Beyond Phantasmagoria
by Sioen
Summary: "Oh, you can't help that," the Cheshire cat said. "We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad." They helped one another to achieve their goals, only to sink deeper into the realm of madness. Only one man would survive. B/Light/L Matt Mello Near.
1. Chapter 1

**A Death Note Fanfiction**

**Title: **Beyond Phantasmagoria.

**Warnings: **Rated M for mature themes, mind-games, insanity, psychological, violence and gore.

**Pairing: **Between Beyond Birthday, Light Yagami and L

**Dedicated to: Aquarius Dragon **

**Beta for this chapter: Jedi Master Bag**

**Disclaimer**: This is work of fiction. It has not been authorized by Tsugumi Ohba, Takeshi Obata, Shonen Jump, Viz Media, Warner Bros or any of the other holding copyright or license to the manga, anime or movie.

**Warning for this chapter: Insanity, and some dialogues may be offensive to some people. Remember, this is only work of fiction, don't take them seriously.**

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**Prologue**

The key is always the mind power.

When you stand around, society watching you with wary gazes, just think how they trust you. Believe it or not, they eventually will.

He knew how to create the reality he wanted. The reality lied in his mind.

Everything around him was an illusion, _his _world was real.

**XXX**

Shadows intruded from the periphery of his vision, like ink spreading through the fibers of a blotter, and he saw nothing but darkness. He heard bells again, this time ringing so loud. Those chimes arose from some distance and called to him with a silvery insistence.

Cold hands slid around his wounded neck and squeezed. His chest tightened more and he grew short of breath.

He was going to die.

The bells kept ringing, so deafening. He felt his airways narrowing. He was close.

He shut his eyes, imagining he would see anything but darkness when he opened them again. His body went numb and he stopped struggling. He imagined the blue sky, perhaps with a barren highland studded with a few trees. He imagined the night sky. And the moon. He liked the moon, especially when its light covered the land with gray, strangling life all night long.

Then the bells stopped ringing. The hands were gone. He could breathe again.

Confused, he opened his eyes.

It felt vague at first, but the blackness around him dispersed. Before he could notice, his pain had substantially subsided as well.

With his widened eyes he saw leaves and woods and branches. The green trees with trunks of dark smoke stood tall everywhere around him. He looked up. The bright sky shone through the roof of quivering leaves. He heard the loud sounds of crickets and forest animals. He was in the middle of a dense forest.

For the first time, he barely shouted for joy. He was alive, he knew he was alive.

Whether he was alive or not, he believed that he knew this place. He had come here before, probably when he was a kid. Some of his friends had been living here as well, peacefully, untouched by the hands of others but his. This was a pure living castle. His _Wonderland_.

He heard an endless rustle of colorful leaves like poplars in the breeze. A footpath lied before him. It would lead him to the most peaceful area in the forest. Thus, he followed the path, heading to the heart of the forest.

After an hour or two, the trees looked deeper and darker; it was difficult to find a way. Trapped by the beautiful scenery, he didn't mind getting lost, as long as he could escape from the death. But after three hours of walking, he lost all clear sense of direction. The woods became denser, the trees got thicker. The twisted root-threads spread on the ground hiding the footpath. It seemed that the path had lured him to the wrong place. He heard no sound apart from an occasional drip of moisture falling through the branches and the whispering leaves. The forest had grown threatening after many years had passed.

He stopped under the tree – the one laden with apples. He bit his lower lip viciously until it bled. The fallen leaves blew upwards in gusts of wind like crumpled pieces of paper, scattering on the ground.

Alerted, he faintly heard a sniffling sound above him. He gazed up and his eyes widened.

A Cheshire Cat sat on the bough of a tree. Its eyes were sharp, yellow, and round, but rather beautiful and good-natured enough. It had long claws and great many teeth. Its creepy face bored into him as though he was a cricket crouching under the tree.

The cat purred, "_Hyuk hyuk! _What is your name?" Its voice was alien to his ears; it was not like the voice of a cat.

What was his name anyway? It was a long, long time ago and he couldn't recall what was his real name had been. It didn't matter; he could always use some aliases. Ah yes, these days, his name was _Alice_.

Throwing a suspicious look to the cat, he said, "My name is Alice."

The cat grinned. They just stared at each other in silence.

Alice thought he had to treat the cat respectfully. "Excuse me Mr. Cheshire Puss," he said in a polite, timid gesture for he suspected the cat wouldn't like the name. But it grinned wider, so he thought it was all right. "What is this place? Where am I?"

"You're in wonderland! _Hyuk hyuk hyuk_. And this is not heaven, nor hell."

"Not heaven, nor hell. I believe I've heard the words somewhere before. So that means I'm dead already or this is just a dream?"

"Whether this is your dream or not, this is wonderland! You're already here, in wonderland!"

Silence for a moment, then Alice said, "I beg your pardon, Mr. Cheshire Puss, would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"

"_Hyuk hyuk! _That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," the Cat said.

"I don't much care where-"

"Then it doesn't matter which way you go."

"-as long as I get _somewhere_," Alice said, rather annoyed.

"Oh, you're sure to do that, if you only walk long enough. _Hyuk hyuk hyuk!_"

This couldn't be denied, so Alice tried another question. "What sort of people live about here?"

"In THAT direction," it said, waving its right paw round, "lives a Hatter: and in THAT direction," waving the other paw, "lives a March Hare. Visit either you like: they're both mad."

Alice couldn't recall if he had friends like them, but he didn't care that much now. "But I refuse to go among mad people."

"Oh, you can't help that," the cat said, "we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad."

Alice frowned in exasperation. "How do you know I'm mad?"

"You must be," said the Cat, grinning, "or you wouldn't have come here."

"May I stay here for a while?" Alice crouched, and had begun to settle under the tree, even before getting permission from the cat. "I'm exhausted."

"Sure! Go ahead. _Hyuk hyuk hyuk, _I'd love it if we share some thoughts about everything. If you have a problem, or good stories, you can tell me! Or give me an apple!"

"I remember one creature who loves apples, but not a cat."

"It's because I am MAD."

"Prove it."

"You see, a dog growls when it's angry, and wags its tail when it's pleased. Now I growl when I'm pleased, and wag my tail when I'm angry. Therefore I'm mad."

"It is purring, not growling,"

"Say as you like! You can give me apple! Or you can tell me who you are, your story and your problem and everything! Or I'll probably get bored and leave you alone."

"Hm... maybe one thing... that really disturbs me now... I was wondering," Alice mumbled with nonchalance. "Where should I begin?"

"Begin at the beginning," the cat said, grinning even wider, "And go on until you come to the end, then stop."

"All right, I'll tell you about me. Well I can't remember clearly about myself. But I remember I once had claimed myself as an agnostic, for I was born with high intelligence. I fell in love with scientific methods and logical ways of thinking. My speech had always been filled with mathematical and scientific elements, since I stepped into law at the age of..." Alice stopped, he couldn't remember.

"Heh, interesting. Such a boring life you had? And what's your problem then? Tell me the things you like and you don't like!"

"I had lived, breathed, and walked on a carpet of possibilities arranged on facts and logic, which, without me realizing it, were unseen facts, or more accurately, a metaphysical assessment. It could also be my instinct as a man who had already experienced many things." Alice rolled his eyes, recalling his memory. "But one day, I found that I hated metaphysics which had no taste of logic within. I loved facts, physical or psychological. But now, I think, fact or reality is just an unimportant, minor detail that has no need to be disputed over anymore or researched deeper. When we breathe, we require oxygen, those are facts. There's no need to inquire further into it, as it is a fact."

"I can see that, well, keep going."

"And so, I came to the conclusion. What is the difference whether God exists or not? What is the difference whether we need to believe in Him or not? I believe all actions have their repercussions. So, why do people try to influence others to believe in God? Can we boost our faith in God by making others believe in Him? Or, is it because of our own lack of faith in Him that we try to make others believe the words 'God exists'? If so, whom do we trust? The existence of God or people who said 'God exists'?"

"More. More."

"The faith come from the deepest crevices of our hearts and resonates between the individual himself and his God, all in private connection. So why does there have to be a 'middleman' in this sacred, intimate relationship? How bad would it be for us if we didn't trust God? Surely, all religions have different definitions of their 'God.' Even an atheist can see 'God' in other manifestations. So, does believing in Him make us able to eradicate all our unfavourable attitudes?"

Cheshire Cat was purring loudly, perhaps bored, or he didn't understand what Alice was trying to say.

Alice didn't understand either, he just kept talking. "A religious leader will say 'It's his time to be embraced by God' when he saw someone who died. But a detective will continue searching for how he died and will ask for the responsibility of those involved. Because of that, a murderer can't say, 'I killed and this is my sin. Let me take responsibility later when I face God! Don't you dare interfere.' No matter what, the murderer must be caught and judged according to the law-"

Alice kept talking. He would keep mumbling until dawn came.

"-Good will not exists without bad. This is just an understanding about the concept of simplicity. It's like earth that's always rotating on its axis, so a human sees the sun rise in the east and set in the west. Men are created to be paired with women. Perfection is born because of the existence of imperfection."

The sinking sun made the shadows deepening in the woods. The exhaustion wrapped around Alice and he finished with a long sigh. The Cheshire cat snored above him.

"Forgive me if I'm talking too much."

It woke up. "Hmm... are you finished?"

"Actually I'm not, but-"

"Are there stories you can tell me besides Facts and Gods and Criminality and Justice and other theoretical things?"

"Maybe later," Alice said quickly and watched his surroundings. The woods looked gloomy, the night quickly approaching. An owl hooted. "I've been searching for shelter to hide and stay along the night. Someone wished to take my life."

The cat grinned. "Well well... not under my tree. Look at your flesh, it's raw and awfully tender. There are ghosts who may come and take you, and will eat you. I won't let you stay here for too long."

Alice gulped, feeling all that it was bleak and dry around here. "What kind of ghosts are they?"

The Cheshire cat laughed in a shaky breath. "Well, they suck the blood. They play left-handed shooting at people without being seen. They love to kidnap children. They love to take the dreams of others. They always con people."

"I agree, these kinds of ghost are scary. I cannot argue with them. But someone who wishes to kill me is far scarier than any ghost."

"Then I suggest you visit our friends, Hatter or Hare. I hope they're willing to let you to stay... Ah he's coming! I have to go now, see ya!"

The Cheshire cat vanished. The woods and leaves above him turned to dark smoky color. The night grew deadly dark under great clouds. A bitter wind swirled among the trees. Alice heard the wind hissing, and a howling and wailing around him in the empty spaces of the night-

Something horrible crept out of the edge of the trees.

His heart sank. Once again he didn't know where he was. Suddenly he saw nothing but black. Everything turned upside down. He was now eclipsed in darkness, not a shred of light came through.

He gasped.

The bells, he heard them ringing, everywhere.

He felt the hands again, grasping him from behind, embracing him tightly.

He screamed.

**XXX**

He blinked to clear his vision.

Not a forest. A white ceiling and dusty smelled old bed, a tiny bedroom.

_Where am I? What is this room? It must be another dream of mine_, he whispered to sooth himself. He had to wake up, so he found himself back to the forest. He would find Hatter or Hare and ask them if he could spend a night in their hut.

But like a winch line turning on a drum, pain gradually hoisted him from unconsciousness and forced him to get up, to keep his eyes open. The pain was mostly in his scalp. A slow pulsing one, punctuated by a series of sharper pangs and radiated across his head. He raised one hand and gently pressed on his forehead. It triggered a spasm of sharper pain, he cried out.

Licking his dry lips, he tasted blood. His tongue tasted sweet and bitter. Life itself.

He smelt the faint scents of metal, iron, dust, copper, pungent and sweet. A new year calendar hung on the peeling wall next to his bed. The 6th of January was the date that hadn't been circled with red. The captor hadn't visited him today. So the 6th of January 2005, which was today, would be clean and stainless. He thought of helping to put a circle, but knowing that he almost couldn't move his body, bound by pain-

Pain? No. He felt nothing. There's no way he could feel such a pain, this was a dream, he wouldn't feel pain when he awoke soon.

Footsteps. The sound of a doorknob opening. Alarmed, he widened his eyes.

The dim lighting lit up the familiar silhouette.

_No._

It was hurt already. His stomach burned, his chest hurting. The pain tickled him, he wanted to laugh, so he forced out some shaky laughs. He managed to get up slowly, hoping to return to reality. He loathed this dream. He wanted to wake up.

"Good night Alice, have you managed to solve the riddle from me?-" A soft voice sounded and a graceful face loomed before him. Alice found humor in the choice of words, but not the kind that made him laugh.

Alice's swollen lips curved in a smile, a bitter one. He managed to answer, but the pain tickled him again, so he just chuckled and soon burst into laugh.

"Answer of… riddle?"

"-Who am I? Alice?"

"Where am I? Who are you? Who is Alice? WHO AM I? I-"

"…_Alice…?"_

Light's eyes snapped open.

Light twisted sharply and jerked out of unconsciousness. His breath hitched. His fists clenched, nails white, clutching the stitches of his thick blanket. The sweat dripped from a few strands of his auburn hair.

Just now, he had dreamed.

Half of the dream felt strangely vague. He smelt the woods and leaves, but he hardly recalled anything from them, except for some dialogues that felt simultaneously too real.

A few seconds passed. Light sat on his bed with puckered brows, perplexed. Why did he think over something peculiar anyway? A dream was something unreal that required no further inquisition into. '_There is no need to inquire further into it, as it is a fact.'_ Whoever had said that phrase in his dream, clearly it wasn't him. Something unreal didn't need to be disputed over. Dreams are dreams, after all.

Light looked at the table next to his bed: a small table with a bedside lamp, analogue clock showing four in the morning, and a small calendar with a humble design.

Smiling in the dark room, Light ignored the exciting beat in his chest. Who wouldn't be happy when something that they wanted had almost come true? L would die soon. A network of aspirations that would happen filled every corner of his mind. What would he do after he managed to reach his dream? Should he celebrate? After taking the bastard's life, he would have to do many things to grasp utopia in his hands.

Sooner or later, Light Yagami would tread on new lands. Pure, godly lands. Fresh air, uncontaminated by pollution and bad emotion. Fresh. Clean. Spotless sidewalks. Happy smiles would adorn the face of every resident.

New days awaited him.

_The new world._


	2. Chapter 2

**Edited and Reuploaded. On demand, I divided this chapter into two parts, and then repost it! The prologue chapter has been revised as well (there's nothing change with the plot though), you can read them anytime you want.**

**I am really sorry for the inconvenience (for those who have alerted this story, you must have received some notifications) The next chapters will be coming tomorrow, along with the new chapter.**

**I dedicated this fic to ****Aquarius Dragon****, hope you'll like the change. Happy Birthday.**

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_Chapter One_

**Personae non Gratae**

"_What God intended for you go far __**beyond**__ anything you can imagine__**."**_

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"_Ryuzaki, no matter what world, the god of that world creates the rules."_

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**November 5th, 2004**

L's Headquarters

Japan

Despite his wrist feeling in peace after being released from the metal cuffs that bound him for about four months, nothing changed here.

The investigation ran as usual. Nauseating sweets always surrounded the bastard detective. The Task Force worked on futile attempts to catch the unseen shadow. The annoying model jumped and clung on to Light, like a stamp on letter.

But Light no longer had to sleep in the same room with his nemesis. He no longer had to heard the untasteful voice that forced him to work in the early morning. Now a white Shinigami was wandering around the humans working in L's headquarters. L gripped, touched, stroked, checked, rubbed, sniffled, stared at Death Note and scrutinized Rem to question anything, but the answer would never come.

Light had been patient in enduring all these trials. In fact, he found himself perplexed with his other self: the Light Yagami without Kira.

Which was the real him? He as Kira, or he as the naïve, pure role model student? Light Yagami and Kira, both are the same person. One body. One soul. One mind. One_ Ideology _and_ Desire_. Kira had no different consecrated aspiration as Light had, which tried to create world peace and battle injustice. If Light knew his true Romanticism, which had gone when he lost his memory, he would agree with Kira.

L, the figure who had dared to defy a God, sat by the table. Light realized he was close to passing a judgment on the man. Anticipation curled his stomach into a ball. He wanted to fly like someone under the effects of Neuropinephrine. Substitute the word love with hate, banishing those hated felt the same as possessing those loved. The reward that awaited him would be the absolute power as a God.

Light sipped the coffee and sat next to L.

The detective brought the cup to his lips, but he didn't drink it. Instead, L turned to Light with a thumb on his lips.

Light put up his natural expression. "Ryuzaki."

L, in his true fashion, always looked at him with the eyes of a justice upholder. Light remembered their brawl in Misa's room a few months ago because of that boring face.

"Nothing important," L said with hue of lackadaisical attitude. "I'm just questioning why Yagami-kun seems delighted in the past few days, after we found the third Kira's, or the non-original one's notebook."

L was oblivious of how close he was to his death. His all skepticism and well-calculated moves were ineffective. The images of L laying cold on the ground, when he burned with shame that his greatest efforts was fading embers compared to the bonfire of Light's genius, made Light twitch in pulses of excitement.

"That means our research has been progressed as it should be. Only a few more steps to get to the real Kira. Anyone will be happy with this, don't you feel as such?"

"Not too happy for I believe with ninety-eight percent the real Kira is so close to me. But there's no strong evidence yet to hang him on a pole."

This was the chore L sang for him every day.

"Say what you want, Ryuzaki. Even if I say that I'm not Kira for millions times, it will not change your perception toward me."

"One hundred percent correct, Yagami-kun."

"Fine. As you've told me earlier, all that's just a game of waiting. There will come a time for you to believe that I'm not Kira."

"Indeed, I shall wait until the time comes, and I'm ninety-seven percent sure that it will not be that long. My assessment have never been proved wrong so far. The best advice for Yagami-kun if he's Kira, is 'be prepared'."

Light snorted. "Now, now, Ryuzaki, you're not a superman. There's no human without mistakes. Regardless of how perfect they are. Think realistically."

"No human's without mistakes are words of those who like making up reasons, repudiating the true meaning of reality and refusing responsibility," L's voice had a dangerous precision like a python, unmoving but ready to inject venom into its prey anytime it wanted to. "And childish like _Kira-kun_."

"Very unfortunate, Ryuzaki." Light's reply came with the same calmness and ferocity. "Calling me Kira for thousand times is futile. First, I won't turn into Kira. Second, you waste the energy for calling the wrong person."

Light smirked a little when L had no time to criticize his argument.

The figure of a blond model emerged in the greatest detective's camera. Misa Amane waved her hands. The chain bracelet and rosy ornaments around her wrists sparkled under the sun, oddly bright in Light's eyes.

"Misa."

Halfheartedly, L pressed buttons to deactivate the security systems so Misa could enter.

Scanning all monitors in the room, Light found that L didn't lie when he said Watari was currently out of the headquarters.

"What a coincidence, Amane-san came," L said with a dominating tone. "And Yagami-kun is seemingly contented by this coincidence,"

"Whatever you say, Ryuzaki. What's wrong if a boyfriend smiles seeing his girl coming?"

"Indeed, forgive me I''ve forgotten that Miss Amane Misa is your lover. It's because as far as I know, this was the first time he smiles when Amane visits. Or was it because the second Kira has done her job well today, as I see there are 35 more criminals kille-"

If not for Light's willpower or his perfect self-control ability, he would have ran toward L, smacked him to the ground, clutched the white sweater, lifted it and slammed him on the ground, and dislocated his neck and- But Light stopped at 'clutching the white sweater'.

"What the hell's wrong with you today, Ryuzaki? What do you want? Isn't that enough, imprisoning us in this place?" Light barely loosened his grip when L's breath became faster, but he didn't stop there, "If you don't believe that Misa and I are not guilty, just do whatever you want on us. Imprison us, in an underground chamber for a thousand days without food or drink! But if we're proven innocent, I demand justice be done to you for making us innocent victims!"

"I told you that I don't want to defile your rights or going against the law. And careful when you speak to me, Yagami-kun, because if I do that, he will never survive." L grasped Light's wrists and hissed, "That's why he should count your blessings; he can still stand right here and now."

Angry, mocking expression etched across Light's face. He felt like spitting when he punched the detective's face. L fell back onto the floor with a loud thud. But Light thought the thud wasn't loud enough, he wanted one louder that those bones broke, and L would curl up beneath him, helpless.

"Oh, so this is the true face of The Great L," Light said, holding himself for grinning above the panting figure. "I thought all along that he always upholds justice, but in fact-"

The telltale vibration of the cell phone shut Light's caustic mouth; it came from L's right jeans pocket. L gathered his strength to sit and reached inside his pocket. He flipped the cell phone open with one hand, holding it close with the tips of his fingers.

"Watari?" L said without checking who had called him. Well, there's only Watari who knew L's private number, or perhaps Light too.

With a sigh, Light walked toward the table. His coffee was cool, Light took a few gulps in annoyance.

Then, he stopped drinking, realizing something strange.

There was no more words coming out of L's mouth after the word 'Watari' just now.

Turning around, Light saw L was still pinning the cell phone next to his ear; he didn't talk, his face unseen. Three minutes passed. L still stood there, silent and unmoving, a mannequin.

Five minutes. Light put his empty cup on the table. L hadn't budged an inch, pinching his cell phone with his skeletal fingers, still not talking nor moving. It was a comical picture for anyone if they happened to see him, but... rather...

"Oi Ryuzaki."

_Flip!_

Was it because of Light's voice who had suddenly called him, or because the mysterious caller who dialed L's cell phone had finished talking? But the loud flip from the cell phone earlier made the statue-like body of L finally move. He sat next to Light as if nothing had happened.

"Was that Watari?" Light said with nonchalant.

L said nothing.

Footsteps of branded high-heeled shoes echoed. A pair of hands with the stinging scent of expensive perfume ambushed Light from behind.

"Raitoo! Misa really missed you, Raito! Misa-Misa knows Raito forbid Misa from coming here, but Misa couldn't help not meeting Raito for more than a day. Misa hopes Raito isn't angry!"

Light sighed. He rose from his chair and returned the woman's hug, giving her a smile. "Sorry Misa, I also missed you. But you do understand the situation, right? I hoped you'd understand," he said and gave her forehead a chaste kiss.

L was eating his beloved '_Hello Panda_' biscuits in each hand at once, and didn't bother to see him and Misa.

Light took the opportunity to glance at Shinigami Ryuk, who was grinning and waving at him. He stood behind Misa, whose face was blushed with her thick makeup and foundation.

"Misa understands. Misa doesn't want to burden Raito. But..." She frowned. "...can't Misa and Raito go out just for a while? Only one or two hours." She glanced at L from the corners of her eyes.

L tilted his head slightly, too lazy to turn his arrogant head around.

"I have told that to Yagami-kun as well, Misa-san," L said. "But he refused leaving, and he proffered to stay here with me. I myself am bewildered of what Yagami-kun wished, why he would rather stay with a man than his female lover."

"Great, Ryuzaki. You accused me and called me Kira, and now you accused me of having sexual disorders. Once in a while you should reflect upon yourself, who is the real one having disorder between us before you point at people," Light countered without arranging his words first, feeling goaded all of sudden.

Ryuk suddenly burst into a spasm of laughter behind them.

"Oh? Did I say Yagami-kun has a sexual disorder, I did not, Yagami-kun himself did. And now it made me doubtful of Yagami-kun's sexual tendency, because impulsive people like this are on the first ranks of those with sexual disorders, or worse, _Paraphilia*_."

Even Light himself didn't know why he became much sensitive when talking to L lately.

"Thanks a lot, _L_," Light hissed, giving an emphasis on L's pseudonym. "But it's difficult for me to listen to the words of an abnormal man who likes sucking his thumb like an autistic, barefeet, holding objects abnormally or glaring at me when the chained me accidentally brush against his body. Are you having secret obsession of wanting to be seen as cute by others with all that? True, _that _is the characteristic of a Paraphilia sufferer."

L's brows puckered a little, eyes rolling over the ceilling, as if they were conversing about whether the Earth is round and whether the sun is the center of the galaxy.

"Ah, I felt deeply honored, hearing all this, Yagami-kun. I just realised that all along Yagami-kun had been watching my every move and even my corporeal appearance. He even remembered everything, as if it had been recorded in his notebook. A normal thing to do for a person who is appealed to another and coveted further relationship with the person. The characteristic of 88% of paraphilia sufferer of types _Partialism_, _Morphophila_, _Frotteurism_ or possibly worse than the rest of them since he's a murderer, _Erotophonophilia_."

Ryuk's lips formed an 'o' out of happiness and curiosity, never bored watching humans' actions. The shinigami's face was similar to when he watched a pair of orangutans communicating in unclear language, not human's scientific language on sexual disorder.

"Oh, pardon me then, now I regret talking uselessly to you. Since an abnormal like you will never understand," Light spoke in a mocking tone. "Of course, this abnormal will never understand his own distorted actions, like when he stared at his suspect every night on bed and bathroom, putting up security cameras in the room of a teenager. That's the basic characteristic of a sufferer of sexual disorder and paraphilia," Light paused, disturbed by the untasteful laugh of Ryuk behind him, "..._Sexual Sadism_ probably, _Exhibitionism_ or even _Hybristophilia_. And despite all that, he still said that I am the abnormal one. Go get a mirror and see how you look there, L."

"And I, too, regret conversing with a sufferer of sexual disorder who considers himself as a normal heterosexual man, ridiculing the other man who puts less than perfect attention on physical appearance. While the metrosexual, narcist teenager likes spraying perfumes all over his body in the dead of dawn after immersing himself for about one hour in the bathroom like a woman. And he never missed going to the gymnasium, wearing classy clothes or taking manicure and pedicure in beauty parlors before dating with his women." Thus spoke L, who was sounded extraordinarily clear today.

Light shrugged. He sat down and crossed his legs and hands. "Read more books on the real sexual education, L. You should be able to differentiate which has an abnormal sexuality and what it means of being metrosexual and its difference with a man of healthy lifestyle."

Lifting a spoon of jelly, L watched the strands of color that appeared under light from lamps. "And I believe with an 18-year-old teenager saying all that made my assumption that he has sexual orientation toward the same sex, i.e. homosexuality, stronger. Dominant type. Oh, probably not, hm..." L smirked, and those critical gaze settled at Light's face, then moved downwards, and Light – realizing this – thoughtlessly corrected his sitting position, but regretted it when he heard Ryuk's laughter. "...considering Yagami Raito's sitting position with cross-legged like that, typical for women." L finished.

Ryuk had been laughing hysterically behind Misa. Light wanted to pluck out the eyeballs of L and the shinigami. Misa herself, stared at L and then Light, her stupid face blushed with her mouth open. The was the same stupid shocked face of Misa when he fought L in her room.

"_Hm. _Say as you like Ryuzaki, at least it can still be considered normal compared to a man whose hobby is eating sweets and squatting on seats. Oh, I am imagining how primitively this man uses a closet. No, I was wrong; you do not have paraphilia, but fetishm. Yes, just look at how he fellated his cakes and sweets... treating inanimate objects like-"

"Yagami-kun's sitting position, that is... perhaps passive, boastful homosexual type, likes to dominate his partner. But surely he still has the features of a bossy yet melodramatic dominant. It can be seen from his observing activity of me in rich minutiae and he approaches his subject by recording his every move." L's onyx eyes turned to the gothic princess behind Light, "...ah, perhaps, not entirely true, the presence of a female girlfriend here might provide evidence he is also a bisexual. And–"

"Ugh! Pervert Pervert PERVERT!"

Misa's pleading voice echoed in the room, cutting off the unceasing conversation. It managed to stop Ryuk's hoarse laughter which had become an unbalanced background noise in the Kira vs. L debate.

"Listen, Ryuzaki! Misa's Raito is a normal man! Ryuzaki is only jealous. Ryuzaki must have been jealous because Misa's Raito is the most perfect man in the world while Ryuzaki himself is the one with unclear sexual orientation! Do not disturb Misa and Raito! Leave both of us alone!" Misa disavowed with excessive body gestures – making her black petticoat fluttered upwards, showing off her rose-decorated socks. She pulled Light's hand and shoved her tongue toward L.

L shrugged, turning to his laptop as if nothing happened.

Light sighed. The sound of keyboard tapped lazily by his nemesis reached his ears, which marked the end of their word sparring. He knew how childish they were, but it wasn't Light's fault. The detective had been sulking like an underage brat who had no moral today, oh, but did L have a moral after all?

"I am sorry, Misa. But I have to be here with Ryuzaki. Until the case is closed, you have to be patient," Light said with nonchalance in response to Misa's gloomy face. Holding her shoulders, almost roughly, and bringing his face close to hers for a moment, he smiled. But that soft look turned into a master's ordering his servant, when he whispered: "_You do know how important this is for us all, don't you?_"

Misa said nothing. Her eyes slowly widened as if her shallow brain had just became conscious over something. Ryuk grinned behind her.

"All right, Misa-Misa understands..." she said rather miserably, putting up a melancholic look.

Light went silent for a moment, realizing the hard stare from a white figure in all its glory. Floating behind Misa, the creature stared at Light with a gaze of a mother protecting her offspring from wolves wearing sheep furs.

_Shinigami Rem._

Light stared at her for a while. The clash between the pair of human and Shinigami eyes made the air felt dense. They conversed without words. Light, of course, understood what had made Rem unhappy: the disappointed face of Amane Misa – her beloved human girl.

However, L's hoarse voice broke the silence. "You can go, Yagami-kun."

"What?" Light blinked, turning around to see him, rather shocked.

"Only one or two hours are not too painful. I can work by myself without your assistance. Watari will come in a short while."

"Waaah! Ryuzaki!" Misa's high-pitched voice echoed in the room.

Light stared at L, those black eyes shone a little in front of the LCD screen.

"Yagami-kun can come back here again if he wish," L said. He rose from his chair, standing hunched as usual with hands maneuvered into the jeans' pockets. "Ah, yes, of course."

Light frowned, squinted his eyes toward the man. "What?"

"Yes, maybe if Yagami-kun does not mind, I'm running short on strawberry shortcakes. And since Watari may be coming back later."

"Did you say earlier that Watari will come in a short while?"

L rolled his eyes when Light internally mocked his lack of skill in light conversations, then he added, "Perhaps."

Light shrugged. "Fair enough, _perhaps_ I can spare some time to buy you a cake. But it isn't common for you to be running short on food supplies."

Watari, L's babysitter, should have provided every needs of the cake-chomping gargoyle before leaving. So why did-

"True. But Watari's leave was unforeseen before. He didn't have the time for it."

Light rolled his eyes. "Okay. I cannot estimate when I will return here but I will bring you strawberry shortcake. Satisfied?"

L nodded slowly, thumb still sticking on his lips. He walked toward the exit in silence.

Light realized something strange about the detective today. He felt that L also wanting him out of the headquarters – even with the nonsense of buying him strawberry shortcake. What did the bastard want?

"Hyuk hyuk! This is your lucky day, Raito!"

Light didn't dwell on Ryuk's useless statement.

L didn't look at Rem and walked past her. Ryuk floated, followed, and watched that pasty man from head to toe, before he left the four of them in the room.

"And perhaps a few vanilla-and-caramel-flavored lollipops are okay too, Yagami-kun," L said and went through the electronic door.

Ryuk chuckled.

"Let's go Raito!" The cheerful cry came out of Misa's lips, snapping Light out of his brief contemplation. She tugged at his sleeves.

"W-wait a minute, Misa."

Misa blinked, questioning eyes boring into him.

Light glanced at L's laptop, which was left open. He dared not to touch objects freely under the security cameras – even if Watari wasn't in his guarding post.

Rem floated toward them. "Is there something you want, Yagami?"

Light shook his head. "Nothing. _Watch _this place well, Rem, I'll leave with Misa." Giving emphasis on the word 'watch' was enough. Rem was much more intelligent than the brainless and ridiculous Ryuk.

"Fine, then, Yagami Raito. Amane Misa. Have fun." Then she drifted through the metallic wall.

Light spent his time dating with Misa, and Ryuk. Listening to high-pitched, ear-splitting voice, grumbles and various stories full of love, which Light didn't pay notice to. Even worse, the voices seemed to have deflected away from his ears.

The bustling city. The urban noisy traffic sounds. Melancholic songs of the underground band in city corners. The glances from girls toward him which Misa replied by scowls. Everything felt peculiarly empty to Light, as though he was sinking in his own world, he heard nothing.

It had been three hours with Misa, normally Light's cell phone would have rung with the special ring tone signifying L calling. Light flipped open his cell phone. Only a few messages and Emails. One from Sayu Yagami, asking him how he was doing, and some incoming messages from unknown people who wanted to befriend him. When he called those numbers one by one, Misa snatched the phone away and shouted to the phone, "Listen, you slut! Raito is Misa's! Don't even dare trying to take him away!"

Even Misa's earsplitting shout and Ryuk's laughter sounded distant in his ears. Light sighed and checked the rest of the messages. The last two unread messages drew his attention. He opened one of them; it was recorded at 15.30, an hour after Light left the headquarters.

'_**Raito. We've been unable to contact Ryuzaki and Watari since noon. We came to HQ this afternoon, but couldn't enter the building at all. It seems there's a problem on the security system. What happened?'**_

Light scrolled down to the next message. From his father again. It was recorded at 15.36, about 5 minutes after the first one.

'_**Sorry, Raito. So you're having a date with Misa. Ryuzaki has just called me. Well, have fun, Raito. If you have the time, you can come home for dinner together with Misa tonight. Me, Sayu and Sachiko are at home.'**_

That meant L had told them to go home. '_But why the task force couldn't enter L's building?'_ Light replied with a stern face.

'**Thanks, Otou-san. But it seems that I have to take Misa home quickly, she looks tired. Maybe tomorrow I'll come dinner with Misa. Say hello to Oka-san and Sayu for me.'**

Light put the phone back into his pocket. Staring blankly at the new Porsche that just went through Ryuk's body - that ridiculous shinigami squealed in shock and giggled.

Something didn't feel right, but Light hated thinking over unnecessary things, in the end, he decided to forget about it.

But something made him want to change the traffic light from red to green, so he could take the noisy model next to him home soon. Light stopped walking and widening his eyes.

The telltale sign of the cake shop winking across the street.

Light pulled Misa and entered the cake shop.

The shopkeeper asked him what he wanted. Light knocked on the glass box housing strawberry shortcakes. Sighing, he fished out a few sheets of yen from his wallet to pay.

XXX

The watch showed 08.00 P.M when Light reached L's HQ.

A six-hour walk with Misa. Going through a tiring day, and eventually ended up relieved after giving the girl a kiss, Light took her to the apartment.

It might be a heavy downpour tonight. Light heard thunder booming several times. A light drizzle started wetting the strands of his hair. He picked up his pace on the pavement.

L's gargantuan skyscraper looked lifeless. The neon lights solely brightened its every level, glowing, contrast in the Stygian darkness of the night. Its beauty attracted his caramel eyes. Light regarded it for a while before entering, shielding his eyes with his hands.

Entering this highly-complicated headquarters wasn't a problem for him, who had been given high authority by L. He could enter anytime, and so did his father and the rest of the investigation team. Then why did this afternoon the task force almost couldn't enter this building? Did L turn the security system of or was there a problem? But it didn't matter. The task force still talked or even possibly met Ryuzaki.

But tonight felt different. It was like entering a grandiose, uninhibited building, though distantly Light heard complicated machinery at work. From fingerprints to iris reader, and various other security protocols to enter the building, he didn't feel any suspicion when he was thoroughly scanned.

Probably there was a problem with the security system in the afternoon. Light rolled his eyes around, passing through high-tech engine rooms of the world's greatest detective.

Reaching the last checkpoint, he put the box of strawberry shortcake inside a glass security box. He took his cell phone and squinted. Still no signs of L contacting him. He flipped his phone close again in slight annoyance.

Light felt disturbed by something he couldn't comprehend. He should feel happy for L seemed to not put heavy alert on him; that meant he was out of suspicion. But remembering his quarrel with the man this evening, the possibility seemed unfeasible. Something that gave Light a bad feeling, was the possibility that L preparing something he couldn't predict, to destroy him. Besides all that, what else could it be?

Light put his cell phone, wallet and others in the security box. He glanced toward the door, which had infrared and sensors at every corner, checking for something. Nothing was wrong. He walked toward the metallic door, then halted his feet.

The door had opened without preamble before him, without the metal rejection alarm, which had always made Aizawa and the rest frustrated every time they entered the building, and forced to enter with only boxers on.

_What happened here? Is the annoying security system in this building started falling apart... preceding the death of its owner?_

That thought made him want to grin, but he knew this wasn't the right time for that. He stood still before the automated door, which looked strangely vulnerable, opening itself without being ordered to. Holding his breath, Light stared toward the empty corridor laid before him.

Light wasn't the type that would easily penetrate a door which was open willingly before him. _When things are too perfect to be true, that's when you need to worry most_. So he waited, in complete silence, eyes still staring straight, as if it could see through any corners of the empty corridor. He listened with utmost care, searching for any vibrations in the air. Was there someone hiding at the unseen corner there?

Yes, a security camera.

Light gazed up at the directions of several other security cameras on every corner. He couldn't see whether each one of them was still functioning. He felt paranoid seeing all those. Remembering how claustrophobia feel, with cameras exposing every inch of his body.

He took in a short breath. Then, quick as a lighting strike, he threw his wallet past the door. It bounced a few times on the ceramic floor, making noise which was surprisingly loud in the deserted corridor. All his muscles tensed; ready for a surprise attack.

40, 41, 42 seconds...

One minute went by and nothing happened.

It was useless standing in front of the innocent door which allowed him access, but Light wasn't naïve. He thought of throwing other objects into the corridor, but then canceled the thought, noticing security cameras which seemed to be watching him. He imagined L's smirk, ugly and mocking, up there in his control room, watching and laughing at Light's futile actions and his alert face. L must be playing around with him, as if Light was a lab rat down here...!

With steps full of confidence, chin raised a little, Light stepped into the corridor. He took his cell phone, wallet and the rest along with him. He smirked, face lowered so the camera wouldn't catch his countenance. It's not his fault for bringing forbidden articles inside this building. _Blame your own stupid security system, L._

His sneakers echoed a little in the quiet, metal-walled corridor as he trampled on the silvery ceramic floor. The air conditioner seemed to be functioned well – cold air licked his face. But somehow, Light felt oppressed. The ambiance around him seemed to be pressed on all sides by darkness, closing in on him at every second. Shaking off strange thoughts, he stopped by the elevator with its whitewashed doors. The green button with an arrowhead pointing upwards popped up beside the elevator. Light pressed it, and waited.

Again, he frowned. The button which should have lit up after he pressed it, didn't respond.

Light pressed the button again, it still didn't function. Had Watari not come and activate the security system? Or did L turn off the security system?

"_Yagami-kun can come back here again if he wants."_

An uncomfortable feeling rumbled in his chest. Quickly, Light snatched his phone and pressed number 7, a speed dial for L's private number.

_BEEP BEEP BEEP_

The raven-haired man's phone wasn't activated.

How absurd. In their history L never turned off his phone, what on earth was happening?

Light turned his gaze upwards, and found a security camera at the corner of the room. There were no signs of the camera functioning. There should be a red LED blinking constantly there. What the-? The camera was turned off.

Electrified, he darted his eyes around the ceiling. All security cameras were turned off. He felt something, cold as ice, crept up his nerves, suddenly choking his throat. Even if the world ended, it seemed impossible that L would turn off all security systems in this building. The detective's cell phone was also turned off.

'_So what? What does it have to do with me if all security systems in this building are out of business?'_

Ignoring all of this, Light forced his legs to the emergency door. He managed to push the door slowly, and stepped in.

His footsteps became louder in the airless, whitewashed room. He walked up the flight of stairs, one by one, aimlessly counting the steps. Twelve apiece. Next one. Twelve apiece too. He didn't glance at the security camera; looking at them made him nauseous, as if poison gas oozed out of them, ready to poison the minds of those zeroing in on them.

On the following steps, after counting the same number of steps on each staircase, Light increased his pace to the 18th floor, to the corridor of his room. He stopped for a while on the 13th floor, taking a brief respite. He realized it wasn't only fatigue which burdened him, something else.

Bracing himself on the 17th floor, covered in cold sweat, Light mustered his strength to climb up the last flight of stair. The 18th floor. Without waiting, he pushed the heavy metallic door. The familiar corridor with blue rose-decorated carpet. The scent of the dirty white wallpaper filled his nose.

Light took in another deep breath, feeling relieved in his private corridor – yes, the detective gave him the 18th floor. He ambled casually to his room, a little bit to the end of the corridor, passing several empty rooms, of which one of them was opened widely since yesterday. All lamps were normally working. A strange alleviation appeared when he saw the security cameras, blinking, at each corner of the corridor.

Incredible, this was the first time Light felt comforted upon seeing those cursed cameras from that annoying detective.

Slamming his bedroom door closed, a bit roughly, Light grimaced. He was annoyed after being tortured by the hideous owner of this unbelievably 'modern' building, who forced him to climb the emergency stairs in the night.

Light put off his jacket, black shirt and all other coverings before throwing all of them to a basket. He hurried himself to the marble floor, one hand maneuvered to the shower tap. He took some time adjusting the water's temperature before drenching himself under warm water.

He breathed out slowly. The warm water started caressing his body. For a moment, all rigidity that he felt earlier was forgotten.

When he thought about Watari's sudden leave from the building leaving L alone, it felt unnatural. The old man shouldn't leave him without supervision. Light knew L might have anticipated any unwanted events. But still, L asked him to buy the strawberry shortcake which should have-

Holy God. That damned cake was left on the ground floor, right in front of the broken security door!

Light groaned, putting the liquid soap back to its rack. Dousing himself once more with water, he turned the tap on the opposite direction, turning it off. He stepped out of the shower stall.

Honestly, he felt more than tired to go down 17 levels and 17 times 12 steps, only to get a box of strawberry shortcake, and then passed it to the detective somewhere in the building. And now, he felt upset at himself for being suddenly forgetful. He had principal, in which already deeply carved on himself, for always fulfilling every promise he had said. He clearly didn't want to see L laughing at him tomorrow morning, when he apologized and said: 'the cake was bought but left on the first floor and I was too tired to take it again and go upstairs again to look for you L'.

Pride was number one for a notable person like himself.

Imagining L's mocking face, if he watched Light's unreasonable cautious face in front of the security door – with wallet-throwing scene, made his chest boil. He thought of poisoning the cake with prickly pepper powder, which Misa told him on their useless date (that was the only retarded joke that Light could comprehend). But of course he couldn't do that, otherwise he'll-

Light froze. He didn't even have the time to touch the doorknob under the shock.

The bathroom was hazy with steam from the hot water, making his vision a little fuzzy. He smelt the scent of the hot water drenching him a few minutes ago, when his body was soothing warm and comfortable. But the moment when he felt darkness, his body started to cool now.

A black out.

This was the first to happen in the history of L's headquarters. If there was a disturbance in the electrical supply, the spare power should kick in in a few seconds. But Light had stood for three minutes. Was this human-like building, complete with its superhuman nerve networks, no more than cheap tall tale? The world's greatest detective could be no more than a load of bullshit.

Taken aback by his suffocating lungs, Light's mind snapped back to reality. He whacked himself inwardly for acting like an idiot, freezing right in front of the doorknob. He felt the walls in the darkness and sighed when his fingers found the doorknob.

The sight of an equally dark bedroom welcomed him. It didn't matter, he was grateful that some light still entered through gaps of the curtain covering the window. The city down there was bright as sunshine.

Carefully treading on the invisible carpet, he walked toward the gap of the curtain, beautifully glowing in the dark. He spread it open, displaying Tokyo's skyscrapers and the glow of the capital. Now he could see his bedroom, though it was still dim.

What a strange night. About an hour ago, light rain had showered on him and he heard the thunder rolling, clearly heralding heavy rain tonight. But now, the sky was clear.

Moonless night, the favourite night of stalkers and _personae non gratae_.

As if the Gods had decided to change someone's fate tonight.

The weather forecast had missed. The sky was moody and had unpredictable changes.

Barefeet and barechested. Light sat on the bed, stretching his body a little. Only a dry towel covered his half-lower body, his naked torso exposed. He didn't know what made him too lazy to open up the wardrobe, probably because of tiredness. He reclined instead, slightly closing his eyes, enjoying the softness of the pillow.

The coziness ended there.

Light heard something. It came from either upstairs or downstairs. He didn't know. One thing was clear: the sound which tore through the air managed to get down into his ears, widened his eyes, alerted him.

Loud gunshots. Followed by other noisy sounds, they felt frighteningly similar to noisy special effects in action movies he'd watched back in high school.

The staggering intensity of tension was enough to jolt him out of the bed. He glared at the door. Upstairs, downstairs, the gunshots felt close.

Six hours of Light's leave and L didn't contact him at all. The building looked lifeless; the security cameras on the first floor were malfunctioning, including elevators and other systems. The blackout. Gunshots.

This wasn't one of the hallucinating effects of paranoia.

Any idiot child in those movies would have clearly said that_ something is wrong here._

Panic struck. Light grabbed the cell phone. Number 7, he pressed it, and then canceled the call. Calling L? Calling _**L**_? Why would he do that? Asking what was happening here? Even if there was a bloody slaughter in this building, L might be the last person to call on for help.

But this was L's headquarters. With a reason that was more to his own egoism, Light pressed the number again. Waiting for the call to connect, he couldn't decide on whether he'd like to talk to L or no-

_BEEP BEEP BEEP_

As expected. Light didn't know whether he should be disappointed or grateful. L's phone was still turned off.

He would have to move by himself from there.

The surveillance cameras on the first floor were off. So the intruder, who managed to sneak inside and turned off L's superb security system – whose motive was still unclear – probably hadn't known of Light entering the building up to the 18th floor. While the surveillance cameras on this floor were on. If Light waited in his room, he would be waiting for the attacker, whom he didn't know how many of them, to break the door. Like a deer caught in the light. Dead in his own nest. The same thing would happen as well if he tried to call Rem here. Ridiculous.

Light ran toward the wardrobe, unwilling to go wandering in the building half-naked, wearing only a towel as covering. Pulling a boxer, brown sweater and khakis, Light struggled to zip his trousers. It wasn't even properly zipped when he noticed a beam of light in the darkness; on the bed.

His cell phone.

Light sprinted toward the bed and snatched the object. Eyes widened, glaring down at the sharp LCD screen. A message.

'_**Raito, are you in HQ now? Please tell Ryuzaki that I cannot come at eight o'clock tomorrow, probably I'll come at nine. I feelslightly dizzy tonight, I'm not feeling well. Thanks, Raito, keep yourself well. – Soichiro'**_

Light's heart sank.

Should he tell Soichiro? No. Light didn't want to involve his family in danger. There was the possibility that there were actually no attacker. Maybe L was scaring him, or practice shooting in the night. Ridiculous.

Light typed fast.

'**Otou-san, I'm inside the building, but I still haven't met Ryuzaki. There's something wrong here-**

Cursing inwardly, Light pressed _delete_,erasing the thoughtless draft clean. Light closed his eyes, thinking, then he typed:

'**I'm fine here, Otou-san. You don't need to worry. See you tomorrow.'**

Light sent the Email and slotted the cell phone into his pocket. Running his fingers along the bed, Light reached the bedside drawer and took a flashlight. Cold sweat trickled down his cheeks. He had to search for a weapon. Sharp objects. But even the simplest like scissors had been kept away from him.

He opened the wardrobe, hoping to find something. Hangers couldn't be used to strike. There was a storage room opposite this room, but getting out of the room empty-handed would throw himself into a crocodile lips.

Moving back and forth, Light explored the darkness around him. In such a panic and dark state like this any large object would do-

The vase!

With alacrity he ran and grabbed the heavy flower vase with a strong grip. This would be enough to knock someone out with a hit. All right.

Vase on one hand. Flashlight on the other hand. He wished there's an infrared goggle so he could see clearly in the darkness. But there was no time to break into L's arsenal of sophisticated equipments.

Light inhaled deeply. There were still two factions struggling in his heart. Was he suffering from paranoia and were those gunshots his imagination? L might be joking... no, was he thinking too far... this was only a normal blackout and system disturbance... and the detective would come to this room to visit his suspect any moment now. L would laugh at Light's messed-up looks, on alert, carrying vase anywhere to hit the attacker, which was actually nonexistent in the first plac-

The beeping sound from his pocket jerked Light back to reality. An incoming Email. He took out the cell phone and opened it, hoping that there was something to motivate him, or giving him facts which proved that his suspicion was wrong. The autistic detective was probably doing a shooting practice with Watari in this building an-

'_**Raito! turn to channel 12 now! There's Misa-Misa on TV! Misa wants Raito to-'**_

_Flip!_

With all annoyance, Light turned off his cell phone and put it in his pocket before reading all the contents of the useless Email.

His adrenaline was pumping throughout his blood vessels, he slowly stepped to the door. Inhaling sharply before he touched the door knob, he turned it round and-

...

_It... c-can't be opened?_

The door was locked.

Black out and an automatic door...that meant Light was locked alive in the room_._

No.

He kicked, pushed, punched and banged on the door. It didn't budge an inch. Light's knee weakened, tension radiating across and down his back. He slumped down, powerless, and stayed in kneeling position.

Then another three gunshots echoed. _Bang. Bang. Bang._ It sounded pretty loud. And then silence. A deadly silence before a storm.

This wasn't the time to think of bad things. He really had to get out of this place. Think Think _Think! _in a building as highly mechanized as this one... L should have something in every room he could use as an escape route in this kind of situation... the vent should be usable, but-

Light felt like laughing, but he knew he didn't have the time to waste for abnormal behavior. The first priority was to regain the Death Note, and get out of the building. Jumping from the window was a quick way to his death, there was no rope or other equipment here. Light rolled his eyes around and caught the sight of the vent.

The world's greatest detective had spiced up his life.

Light moved a chair onto a spot right under the vent grill.

The vent was a strategic spot, he could watch the situation from above. He remembered the time when he used to play computer game. The infiltration game, always use the vent for transportation and stalking. This would be an interesting escape. L might have prepared the vents for an emergency situation.

Very funny.

A screwdriver, an object that Light never thought he would need right now or he would be grilled to death in this room. Where could he find a screwdriver, or something capable of breaking the vent grill, which seemingly made of iron rather than plastic, or something hard enough to break the door altogethe-

There was was a nail polish in the bath room.

Light sprang to his feet and ran to the bathroom. Smashing the non-electronic door open, he lifted the flashlight to trace every corner of the small room. The faint mist from the hot water spread in the darkness. Light walked to the sink and saw a mirror, still bleary with water vapor. In the cupboard on the right side, beside a bottle of shampoo, was nail polish. Who could guess this little, unimportant thing could be used as a screwdriver.

However, Light never got the chance to do sneaking things like those agents in the game. At the next second, when he ran to the vent, a sound – actually just a weak one – but loud enough reached his ear. Light froze to his feet.

_Click._

Of course, he knew clearly what that sound meant. An unmistakable sound, came from the automatically-locked electronic door. What was the meaning of a _click _form an electronic door which was previously locked? Of course...

It meant the door was opened.

Alerted, Light took a few steps backward. The cold night air from the window felt like ice needles penetrating every inch of his skin, making the hairs at his nape stood. His loud heartbeat became a background sound in the silent, dark room.

This kind of situation... clearly it was unlike the situation experienced by actors of a horror movie._ This was serious._

First, L's strange attitude since that noon.

Second, for six hours of Light going out with Misa, the detective didn't give him a call. And L's private cell phone which was always activated throughout history was turned off.

Third, there was the strange Email from his father telling they couldn't get into L's building. Five minutes later, Soichiro sent a new Email telling him Ryuzaki already called him by phone. But they didn't meet each other at all.

Fourth, the strange situation in this building.

Fifth, gunshots. What else?

Sixth, the black out. But then the locked electronic door of his room, had mysteriously unlocked even though the electricity was still out.

All those evidences were enough to prove that he wasn't paranoid. This was real. But this couldn't be categorized as good news for him. Even worse than a bad news.

Cold sweat dripped into his eye. He kept focus on the door; the nail polish had fallen from his hand. Every nerve within his body was freezing. He was ready to face anything, including monsters which would tear down the door anytime. Something was boiling inside him, threatening him to the point he couldn't move his legs, and breathed. The same feeling when he was forced to believe the ghosts are real and Santa Claus really lived in the North Pole, and it was him who brought the six-years-old little Light Yagami – who was still innocent and believing in his existence – a mini tennis racket from the chimney.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

The sound of his watch ticking synchronized with his rapid heartbeats. A few seconds passed like one hour. It seemed like his feet had already turned to roots. He waited. He didn't have any choice but stood still. He almost put up a stance. And kept waiting. Waiting for whatever would come out from the door which had mystically opened. Where? Where is the monster? Come, come out! Show yourself! He wanted to bark, but nothing came out from his mouth.

Nothing happened. Always like that. Just like what happened on the ground floor. The door on the first floor, which was usually a little persistent, had been widely opened in front of Light, welcoming him to enter the building without permission. But for this room, he couldn't understand the reason. The door was locked, then suddenly opened by itself, after Light tried to open it for half an hour by force.

Enough. This was more than enough.

"Stop your playing L..." Light hissed, his voice throaty. He coughed a little, repairing his voice, unwilling to look vulnerable in their confusing game.

No answer. Even though he was quite sure of it, there was somebody. There was somebody outside, standing in front of his room right now. Someone which looked like a shadow, ready to break through anytime to the room. Light could see a faint smile of someone out there. He could feel it. Light felt, at this moment, he suddenly got eyes with an ability to see through the door.

This was the same feeling when he first took the Death Note. When he felt there were a pair of black eyes watching him from above. Until, finally, the night he first met Shinigami Ryuk came.

Ryuk. Fuck. Suddenly he missed the stupid Grim Reaper. If he thought about it again, Ryuk was useful. In times like this, Light would order him to peek outside. But if this was all his imagination, only his paranoia, Shinigami Ryuk would laugh out loud for sure. And Light clearly wouldn't wish for that.

"Do you know how childish you are, L?"

Light hissed, loud enough, so people out there could hear it. However, it was clear those words were not aimed at anybody out there, but more to himself. He knew that whoever out there – if he could just quoted L's favorite language – there was an 80% chance it wasn't L. Or maybe, there was only 5% chance the one standing up in front of this room was L.

No answer.

How childish was L, it was unbelievable this was only a little game arranged by the detective. What did he want? Shooting in the night and turning the lights off. Or if it was true that he had paraphilia, fetishism, autism, or L was a mentally ill person then probably this was what he used to do while Watari wasn't at home.

Light grasped the vase and staggered toward the door.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

He forced all his hearing senses to work now, but only the sound of his heartbeat battered down the walls of his chest like drums. But out there, there was only the wind's, just empty, plain wind. There was nothing. He could imagine how dark the corridor out there was. Just like there was a black hole, total emptiness. A very uncomfortable atmosphere, even for a healthy man like him. A Lygophobia sufferer might be dead in this building.

The flower vase felt slippery in his sweating palm. He widened his eyes without blinking, his body ready to attack. He waited. He felt the man in front of his room also waited. Just like in a real duel, no, this was the real duel, waiting for each other, for the one who would shot the first gun, and who would die in the first shot.

But if you really wanted to win, you must attack. The memoirs of playing tennis with L made him grimace in the dark.

He had passed through every strange thing that could happen in this world. Death Note. Ryuk's terrible face. Everything was the best gift for Light Yagami. How could he be a God in his New World, if in situation like this he could only freeze with fear? Besides, a fear came from our blankness about something. So if he did what he was supposed to do, then he could kill the fear.

With a sudden movement, Light battered down the door. He was sure he had succeeded in making, whoever the monster waiting behind the door and trying to play a stupid game with him, fall back to the ground, while Light struck him with all his might.

Light fell forward as well, rolling on the floor; both his hands grabbed the vase tightly. His eyes widened and he was ready to do anything necessary to crash the enemy's head with that vase. He flipped his body around, knelt and lifted the vase above his head, ready to crash it into that bastard's face that already scared him.

However, what was waiting for him was: nothing.

Nothing. No one. Under his body. Or in front of the door. Or around him. Nobody. Nobody but himself, his body, his breath, his short, fast breathing, and at last... his poor vase which he'd prepared to become a weapon to face a shadow enemy. There was nobody. The enemy...his real enemy actually...never existed...

Light fell to his knees, his breathing unsteady, his face ashen in the darkness. Inwardly he cursed thousands of swearwords for him acting like an idiot, even desperately looking for a nail polish to open the vent. Paranoid. Light glared at the innocent vase in anger. He wanted to crash this thing until it broke to pieces on L's face, and then laughed out loud.

But he was already in the dark corridor. He didn't care whether there was enemy or not, whether he was really paranoid or not. He had to get out of this place right now.

Now.

The flashlight in his right hand led the way. Light ran to the emergency stairs.

A total darkness greeted him. Not wanting to waste the time, Light ran down the stairs. His footsteps echoed, loud, making a bit spine chilling atmosphere within the place. The emergency stairs felt extremely stuffy and almost airless. The darkness sucked all Light's hope and turned it into despair and weariness. Light watched his steps to avoid getting slipped, and to revel his inquisitiveness, and an almost masochistic desire to know, he glanced down to see what it was down there, how dark and steep was the ground floor from the height as high as that 18th floor. Every second passed, there was only fear; as if a wolf was waiting in the dark bushes and preparing to attack him.

Reaching the 14th floor, the claustrophobic situation caused panic to claim superiority in his mind. His skin felt all hot and prickly when he ran into the 13th floor.

No luck. He was unable to think when he saw something.

A dimmed light and Light gasped, unable to control his steps.

The sound of a flashlight sliding over the stairs before falling down from one opening to the deep chasm below was earsplitting. Especially when it smashed the base floor with a loud sound. However, Light didn't listen to it carefully; his leg slipped and he fell down the stairs. Only his strong grip over the rail saved him from crashing into the floor.

"Shit!"

Panting, Light widened his eyes and strained for any slivers of light to reassure himself of the sight before him. He clenched his hands into fists to control the shaking.

The door; the emergency stairs door of the 13th floor had been opened.

Not just widely opened. The heavy door was _gone_. Not gone, the door had been torn away, lying broken a few meter from the stairs as a wreckage.

Forty-five minutes ago, Light had walked past the door as he climbed up the stairs to the 18th floor. Everything was normal. It was the door he remembered the most. The 13th floor was the floor he once spent four months, chained together with the quirky detective. Their floor. Their bedroom.

Light breathed slowly in and out, focusing on that to calm himself. He told himself that he wasn't paranoid, and this messy situation wasn't real.

But this was real.

Shaking his head, Light knew this wasn't the time to sit there. He wouldn't wait until someone attacked him, or waited until the light was on, which probably would never be. It seemed that God wouldn't allow him to get out of this building easily. Walking down the stairs in total darkness was impossible.

_So what I can do now..._

Light narrowed his eyes and stared at the broken door before him.

_...is going in there._

_XXX_

TBC

*Paraphilia: is a biomedical term used to describe sexual arousal to objects, situations, or individuals that are not part of normative stimulation.

**Personae Non Gratae** means unwelcome person.


	3. Chapter 3

Along the corridor of the 13th floor, there were emergency lamps lighting halfheartedly at every corner, dim and blinking. But he was glad he could find some source of light.

Light glanced at the broken door. The door hinges were badly damaged, and the metal debris sprawled on the floor. Someone couldn't break the door with just bare hands. This wasn't fairy tale, where there were giants on the clouds like in children storybook. The door hinges were damaged because of heavy bullet, a handgun's for sure, as a fresh bullet stuck in there. The door handle laid a few meters from the door; another strong evidence.

He didn't know who did that and what for. Or perhaps that was the intruder? If yes, it was a rough and an unprofessional way for an intruder. Why did he attack the emergency stairs? The same question went for L, whose whereabouts were still unknown.

Light's eyes squinted with caution, carefully sweeping around his surroundings. The 13th corridor was empty. The dim, blinking lights in every corner, some lamps were turned off. His footsteps sounded like a giant's, boom boom boom, they echoed all along the dead aisle. If this was in the horror movie, the paint on the walls was peeled and decorated with blood stains and rusts.

Suddenly, he halted his feet, the sound from his shoes' soles created a faint squeaking sound.

He heard a faint noise behind him.

He spun around immediately. The corridor was dim as ever. Nothing changed. He didn't feel any wind which might have swung the curtain or move lightweight stuffs. So there must be something...someone...over there...

He was here and he couldn't get out. So what else could he do but move forward? Probably L was right there...

Slowly, Light walked towards the noise. He almost couldn't feel his legs, but forcing them to move. It sounded like something falling, like a body falling onto the floor. He soothed himself to imagine L who was falling; the detective might have just woken from his sleep and got slipped in the dark, and, oh, Light would laugh out loud.

It was all because the source of the sound, he was sure. It came from the detective's room which also became his room for about four months.

Damn, he should bring something as a weapon. Why he didn't bring that crappy flower vase?

Light walked stealthily to avoid making any sound. L's room was at the end of the corridor, the only room with a double bed. At the moment, he almost couldn't feel his body. Everything felt hazy. He felt a lumb in his throat climbing up and to his tongue, he gasped.

He saw it clearly with his eyes, his and L's bedroom door had shared the same fate with the emergency door.

Light started to analyze, probably the attacker – he didn't want to regard him as 'the intruder' anymore for his rough and unprofessional way of working – entered the emergency room and got into L's room by firing the automatic door. That must be something like that, was there any other theory beside this?

Why did L shoot his own door and the emergency door? Light tried to arrange the chronology: L was trapped in his room in the darkness. He had to get out, so he shot the bedroom's door. L found the corridor was in total darkness and so, he lit up the emergency lights. L ran and shot the emergency door to get himself out of here, and he went to-

No. If L tried to escape, he wouldn't bother to turn on the emergency lights all the way. Probably they had turned on automatically. But on the 18th floor, the lamps didn't turn on. Probably they just turned on at certain floors, or...

And where the hell was Rem? Light had ordered her to stay in the place. She probably got the Death Note with her if the situation went worsen, if she was smart enough for this.

_Damnit! _It felt like this was all nonsense. Everything. But this was L's building, for the fuck's sake, L must have designed many trapdoors he would use for escape in emergency cases. The latest security system would ensure his safety and he wouldn't need a gun to escape from this place.

Light ignored the heat bubbling in his stomach. He shook his head and stopped a few meters in front of their bedroom door. His palms were cold and sweating, that was the reason he didn't want to bring the flower vase with him. He tried hard to think, gathering his strength of mind to think.

Suddenly he jerked. The sound of a falling object from the room.

Light's ego was the only one thing to stop him from jumping back or kneeling down in fear. He took a deep breath and paced forward, ignoring the quickening pulse within his veins. And then, he pushed the OFF button on the left side of the emergency lamp, turning the situation around him into complete darkness.

"Is there somebody...there?"

Suddenly he wanted someone here beside him, though he didn't want to admit. No answer. But at least, he had already announced that he was here. He didn't wish to scream in shock when he met with L's vampiric face, with his hands holding a shotgun at him in there. Probably there will be a bullet going through his head if he entered the room without warning, or any other bad things which he considered possible.

"All right...I'm coming in!" Light said, "One...two...three...!"

He threw his shoes into the room. He prepared to move while the attacker inside the room acted in surprise. Every single nerve strands in his body and his muscles readied themselves for a sudden move if necessary.

But no one moving in the room. No response. No sound.

Before he could stop himself, Light jumped into the bedroom. He threw his body to the ground, and rolled forward. He got to his feet, turned on the lamp and lifted it high above his head. He widened his eyes, vigilantly without a single blink, roaming over everything in the room with the light from his lamp, glaring at everything which greeted him in this room.

Light held his breath. The faint light started to light up the room which vaguely smelled sweet.

His breath grew faster in a split second when he watched over the empty room. The window were widely opened and the wind swung a soft fabric, part of the curtain. The lights from the capital city brightened the room. The cold wind blew horribly about the dark room, and Light immediately discovered the source of that noisy sound. Small stuffs fell from the table, broken to pieces on the floor, blown by the wind. Light noticed it was L's favorite snack, '_Hello Panda,_' and some files. The sound of lightweight stuffs in total silence, and the _fear_ succeeded in ensnaring him.

He inhaled a long, deep breath before falling to his knees. Exasperation came over him. It was the same feeling when he battered down his bedroom door, preparing to trash the shadow attacker's butt.

L's face filled his mind. Light swore to strangle the other man if he found him later. That thought made him able to stand up once again.

Since he was already in the room, it would be good if he took something as a weapon. Something that could help him escape from this damned place.

Light recalled, when he stayed in this room, he once put... no, the dark blue scissors and the set of knitting tool, which he borrowed to repair his broken shirt because a small 'incident' with Ryuzaki in the bathroom, should have been removed. L wouldn't let his throat slit with cutter or his chest pierced with scissors since he was chained with a suspect of mass murder – or whatever L called Light. And he was right; the drawer was empty, as well as the one beside it. There was nothing common people would put in the drawer, like diary, wallet, candle, cutter, lighter or a photograph. However, those small things would be useless against a gun wielder.

He intended to check the drawer at the right side of L's bed, but suddenly he stopped. His eyes widened. There was something cracked beneath his feet. His eyes grew wider when he realized what it was.

The thing was broken, not completely, but Light could see the components of the device had been broken to pieces. He didn't have to check it further; he had instantly recognized L's cell phone. And the thing now had turned to useless garbage.

That's why he couldn't contact the detective. But since when this thing became like-

Light took the broken thing and lifted the lamp on his other hand. The light shone over the poor cellular phone. Nothing he could do for it. Light threw it onto the bed.

Stepping up to L's drawer, he opened it and scanned its contents with his eyes, then he saw something that drew his attention.

There it was, a little flashlight.

Pocketing the flashlight with relief, Light had just wanted to get out from the room, when he saw something. He froze.

The bathroom door had been half opened. The room wasn't completely dark. There was a strange light, a glowing orange light in there.

What was that in there?

His throat felt like narrowing. Suddenly he couldn't breathe. The feeling was horrible. Like he was trapped in the lion's cage, and he couldn't get out. He tried to swallow the lump in his throat, but he couldn't force it down.

Slowly, he walked to the bathroom, which was half open and emitting strange light. It looked like candlelight. There was a silhouette of 'something' in there, but he didn't have the time to think because something was controlling his body right now. He couldn't get rid of himself while a big curiosity controlled his mind.

So he didn't open the bathroom door cautiously, instead, he dashed into the bathroom with eyes wide open to greet the 'attacker' who actually never existed. He wanted to make sure that all this was just the hallucination, and he would go to the psychiatrist after this was over, and would never return.

_No!_

Within his heart, he knew why he wanted to enter the bathroom with eyes wide open, when he dashed through the door and lifted the lamp high above his head, because he wanted to prove that he wasn't mad, that he wasn't paranoid.

About ten candles burned lightly, decorated all over the bathroom floor, every corner of the room. Light stepped with his eyes looking straight to the front, and saw a bathtub at a corner over there. There was a hand with five long, lean fingers sticking out of it.

_He wanted to prove that he wasn't mad, that he wasn't paranoid._

And God granted his request.

Light couldn't stop himself from screaming. He fell on his back. He slipped because of something, which in the beauty of the faint red-orange from the candles, its color turned into dark maroon. The emergency light fell from his hand and shattered, then turned off in the slippery floor. His mouth agape in surprise, for a while, he couldn't think.

There was something, in the bathtub.

Blood everywhere.

That red-blackened body bathed with candlelight around it.

In a few seconds, Light felt like he was hypnotized and was unable to believe what had happened. It seemed like his energy had drained from his body and gone away. He was barely able to stand up and run. Even when he felt that his trousers started to get wet by the blood, he could only sit still.

His ego held him to keep doing that. It was because right now, he was already here, and he couldn't get out. He was here and the exit had already closed for him.

_Bang!_

No! _No! HE MUST GOT OUT OF HERE!_

Suddenly, with the power he didn't know where it came from, Light sprang to his feet. His teeth clattered loudly when he forced his legs to run on the slippery floor stained by blood. He almost fell again if he didn't use his hands to support himself. He kept running, never looking back, staggered out of the bedroom full of sick memories. Before he could notice, he was running along the dark corridor.

_Bang Bang Bang!_

The gunshot must be close, very close. They came from one floor above one floor below him, or probably in the same floor. But a thick wall separated him from the murderer-whoever that might be. Strangely enough, hearing that crazy gunshots made him felt relieved, at least it could be a sign for him - he was safe right here. He had to avoid the battle area.

Of course he must.

Or maybe not.

These were two choices for him: avoid it and look for an exit, or look for L and get involved... or in the other words, to see what was happening, and of course, he would get involve in this madness.

Every piece of him was dragged to the first choice like a white side of a magnet to its black side. He refused the second choice like the white side of the magnet refused the same white side of another magnet.

Light inhaled deeply and nodded to himself. He started to walk, almost sneaked-fast, and then jumped, ran as fast as he could like he was racing with a bomb which would explode in a split second to dark, stuffy emergency stairs. His new torch burned brightly in his pocket, while he ran through the stuffy aisle, panting and with sweat running down his cheeks. His hasty footsteps echoed loudly as he descended the stairs.

The rush of cold breeze licked his skin. He hissed and ran down the stairs without thinking or controlling his movement. Luckily, the Goddess of Prosperity kept smiling in every single step he took, to the light, to the freedom, to a safer world outside. He almost never got slipped although the soles of his shoes were slippery with blood. When he reached the ground floor, he couldn't believe that he already reached his freedom, if he didn't step on the broken components of his previous fallen flashlight.

_I did it! I made it to the ground floor!_

He didn't waste the time to catch his breath or kneel down to take a rest. With his raged breathing, he bashed through a heavy metal door. Another dark aisle was waiting for him. But he didn't pay attention anymore, every monster waiting in the darkness to attack him, bring it on! He didn't fear anything right now. And he almost jumped and screamed when he faced the broken security door, only a few corridors left and he would get out from this damn place forever.

"_Haaa!"_ Here he released a loud sigh. He almost felt like rolling on the metal floor, screaming to thank his God, doing everything he never did before so people would say he was insane.

But who knew? Besides his heart and body which held the white side of the magnet, there was also another side of magnet which had a black color, and it was interested in the second choice of that magnet side.

At the moment, Light went tense. His eyes widened, and he suddenly lost his words.

He saw something, the something which was left... and forgotten.

A little cake box with its pink and fuchsia color, with a decorated flowery ornaments and a cute-but-poorly arranged-strawberry decoration in its frame, filling the outlines of the cake box. Standing in silence, it watched Light's pale and stern face.

A box of strawberry shortcake.

The silent strawberry shortcake looked like it was laughing at him, laughing at the shockingly pale and panting figure of Light Yagami. The first thing that popped up in his head was: he wanted to step on that poor cake and crush it.

But something bigger, from his overwhelming emotion, was able to stop him doing that stupid, unreasonable action. He couldn't tear his eyes away from it.

Something that was faster than the speed of light pass through his head.

They came in, and broke through, then ruled over the content of his head.

Suddenly, Light felt he wasn't inside his body. But he was wrong. He didn't want to admit that it was his real self. The real Light Yagami.

_What was happening? What was happening here? What's going on? _The harder he thought of the answer, the answer itself never came.

The worst part of it was: why could he not stop thinking about it? Why he-

Curiosity. The adrenaline within his veins, and the wave of happiness inside his chest. And the thrill of _mystery_. Until he found the answer, he would never be able to walk his days in peace.

"_mmfh... hehn... hahahah... HA HA HA HA!"_

But he laughed like that not because he was insane. But it was because he felt excited, very spirited.

For he knew, in a little while, he would be a God in his New World. Then what else he should be panic about? To think about it carefully, the entire situation was absolutely perfect. He didn't have time to think, since he felt a little bit timorous a short time ago. This was brilliant. Who would ever guess the God from the unknown heaven had sent someone to this world, someone who was in charge to take L's life, as his replacement. He took away Light's burden, supporting him to sits in a throne entitled God in his new kingdom.

_What a very lucky coincidence._

Then why should he feel worry?

Slowly, he opened his eyes. He glared at the innocent cake box. No more worry and fear inside him now.

He once felt the same feeling, at the first time he took the Death Note. He went home. He sat before his desk, reading the content of the notebook. They're nonsense. He shrugged and left the book on the desk and went to sleep. But then, when he laid down on the bed to loosen up his mind and forget all the stupidity, a sudden force came. The feeling was similar with what he felt right now, caused him to jump to his desk and open the notebook and took his pen.

What did he get after that? Something that changed his boring life into one that was incredibly interesting.

And that's what Light Yagami felt right now. That's what he felt at this very moment.

Maybe it was the Death Note which gave him power.

Yes, the thing which made him fell in love at the first time he saw it.

Death Note

As if drenched by magic, the incredible feeling saturated Light Yagami. He grabbed the cake box, without thinking whether the man who asked him to buy it was still alive or not, and carried it tightly. Turning around and entering the old security door, he ran in a dark aisle. His chest was hammering. **Death Note**. He could hear the calling of it. He must take his Death Note. There's no way he would leave his most precious belonging. It was his and whoever the attacker or intruder, he would never let the Death Note fall to their hands.

That was his sole purpose, nothing else. And this strange feeling, the thrill, how it felt more than relieved, struck him.

However, he didn't understand why and how, but he sure whatever thing that was covered in blood in that bathroom wasn't L. Yes. That damned man must still be alive, or else, it was impossible for him to hear the gunshots. Or probably it was Watari? No. If L died, then Watari would die as well. No need for firing against each other. The old gramps was the master of this building, he should have escaped.

Well, if the bastard had been killed already... Light would put this strawberry shortcake in the place where a mutilated corpse laid down – in that bathtub. At least he wouldn't be haunted by L's ghost, who kept asking for his strawberry shortcake. The debt was paid. Nothing to lose.

He would get out of here soon after he took the Death Note.

Light raised his face, once again, he had reached the emergency stairs area. He chose not to turn the torch in the lightest mode and let it on only to give off slight warmth in his pocket. The cake box was in his right hand, letting one hand free on purpose, so he could do necessary thing easily. Right now he chose to use his hearing sense to see, to feel his surroundings. He was already used to see in the dark and hear every detail of any sounds, perceiving everything in detail. He carefully took a step froward, he watched every step so he wouldn't make a sound.

Light entered the dark emergency stairs.

But unfortunately, at that time Light didn't know the journey to take over the Death Note wouldn't be as easy as he thought it would be.

OOO

The first thing he wanted to do was to call Rem again. But it was difficult. Somewhere in the dark place, in every dark corner; he didn't know where the unseen enemies were hiding. That's why he moved slowly, crawling in the darkness. He bet that Rem was in the same floor with the Death Note. The 23rd floor, the special floor they usually used for Kira's case investigation. Death Note was in the strongbox in a special room. Of course the blackout came as a welcoming surprise; he didn't have to deal with the annoying security system. But it would be much better if in this emergency situation he asked Rem to help.

But it wasn't an easy task to get to the 23rd floor, and Light didn't know where exactly the battle area was.

When he arrived at the 17th floor – already passed the 13th floor which he didn't want to see even only with one eye, Light inhaled sharply to fill his thoracic cavity. It was even hard to breathe, he let out of small pants. His legs weakened and trembled, this was bad. He thought he had already stolen a big amount of air in the area, he needed to hurry to the 23rd floor before running out of oxygen. He forced himself to continu-

Light gasped, he turned off the flashlight and put it in his pocket in an unbelievably fast move. The cake box fell from his hand.

He stopped on the third staircase to the 17th floor with one of his leg stepping on two steps at once. His neck felt hot and cold at the same time.

He swore that... he just heard a door creaked open upstairs. Maybe the 18th or 19th floor, he didn't know for sure, but he was sure one hundred percent sure there was definitely someone up there_._ And now that person was in the same area with him...

His heart beat three times faster, now filled with obvious fear. He couldn't feel anything below his neck, his body went numb. In the eternal silence, could the mysterious person upstairs feel him trembling? He didn't move, knuckle turned white, he grabbed the handrail tightly.

Light's eyes widened more, he heard the sound that clearly were the footsteps of someone walking down the stairs. They were coming closer to the place where Light stood, frozen by fear.

Panic struck him. He had to leave this place! But he couldn't move. The oxygen got thinner and now he could barely breathe.

_Tap...tap...tap..._

The footsteps were faint, very slow, echoing like a giant's footsteps. Light encouraged himself to look upstairs, only a total darkness above him, there was no light at all. He couldn't even see his own hands in the darkness. So how could this person walk slowly, calmly like that without any light?

This was bad. If he didn't move and hide his presence as soon as possible, then he would end here! But he couldn't, if he moved just a little, he would make a sound. And if that was to happen, then-

There was only one chance... even if he made a sound, he didn't have to panic. The darkness gave him advantage, for the attacker couldn't see him in the dark. But what if he could see? No, this wasn't science fiction movie. Strange things like that never existed. But now, he was unable to disbelieve with the existence of strange things. Death Note and Shinigami were the greatest example. The weak mental conditions worsened the situation.

If he wanted to, where would he go? All he could do was to go downstairs. And if that was to happen, he only got two choices: the opened 13th floor, or the ground floor, opening the door in another floor would increase the risk of him found out. Of course he would chose the base floor than got trapped and turned into a corpse with the mysterious corpse in L's bathtub. But there was no guarantee he wouldn't get trapped in the ground floor. He didn't know whether the exit was locked or not. What if it was locked? He would fall into the crocodile's mouth, with their mouths wide open, he would be the most delicious prey, and died tragically.

The darkness didn't mean good for him. Running as fast as he could down the stairs wasn't a good choice either; he could slip and fell down the stairs and died, ended like his previous torch down there. The noisy sound he made while he ran down the stairs would make the predator aware of his whereabouts. If he was faster, Light would get caught and his journey to become God would be over.

And Light didn't want that to happen.

So, what he could do right now was, he didn't want to admit it, but for the first time he prayed. He didn't care whether it was the God of Death who heard his prayer, or the Goddess of Luck who released her arrow of luck. Please, made anyone up there didn't realize his presence, that's all he asked when he moved a few steps backward quietly. With utmost care, he went downstairs with feet probing. He stepped down, stepped back, and slowly, quietly, until he reached the landing. He wished he was able to turn into a chameleon, and the predator would only pass through him without realizing anything.

The sound of footsteps was deafening, Light's heart raced even faster. Its faint sounds were in contrast with his spirited, noisy heartbeat, matching his heartbeat. It was coming closer. The mysterious man had already walked down the stairs he just walked through. Light held his breath.

The stairs has twelve staircases. He heard the footsteps of the mysterious man walking down the stairs, the tenth staircase, and next, the ninth, eighth, seventh, sixth, fifth, forth, thi-

His heart almost stopping. His eyes widened now they felt like blinding in complete darkness. He didn't know what was happening. After the fourth staircase, he didn't hear the footsteps anymore. What was going on? H-had his existence here already revealed? No! Even Light himself couldn't see anything in front of him. How could his attacker see him? Why the attacker stopped a few steps near him... in the fourth staircase... the same staircase he once stood up, frozen by fear...

No. The man must feel something there, the presence, _Goddamnit_... Light had grabbed the stair's handrail strongly, it wasn't strange if the person could feel the sweat and body temperature left on the handrail! O-Or...probably...

God! Why did he just realize this? The attacker could step in the darkness without a torch. Of course, infrared goggles. So the man could see the situation despite the darkness surrounding here. He could see Light's body, his pale face, frozen here, in the wall...

...the face of the prey waiting for death, waiting for his unseen predator that would eat him in this very second...

God.

_Ryuk, Misa, Rem, Father, Aizawa, Mogi, Ide, or that idiot Matsuda or anyone... even that damned L...! Anyone. Please I want them here, right now! Anyone!_

The situation worsened when Light heard the heavy footsteps again. Finally, the man stepped on the third, second, and the last staircase... and finally, stood in the same ceramic tiles Light's standing right now. In this situation, Light couldn't feel his body; he didn't breathe, he didn't make a sound, didn't dare move. He even had no time to feel confused of why he still had his consciousness when he heard a sigh in the darkness.

"_**Hm..."**_

...

Hm...

Hm...?

What the fuck...was that? Light felt like blacking out, for once he thought it was a voice from his own mouth. But no, of course, since the moment he heard the footsteps, he had already stopped moving and closed his jaw tightly. The voice came from a place about one meter in front of him right now. It was baritone. The 'hm' itself was illogical. But it was obvious the voice wasn't a sigh coming from someone's exhaustion after going down two floors. The voice was dull, which was inappropriate with strange situation.

Not only that, the voice came all sudden. It was right when the man's foot tip-tapped the floor. As though he was... was... testing something, checking something, with his voice, within the darkness.

No other possibilities but one, the attacker knew; he knew there was someone here beside himself. But, he simply couldn't see. That was why he tested, trying to detect the other's presence with his voice.

Light was too strong in controlling himself. He didn't budge at all. Fear plastered his body so tight it felt like a cold blanket. He slumped down slowly to the floor, and miraculously, he could still control himself not to produce any sounds.

The heavy footsteps moved forward. Closer. Four footsteps. Light could feel _the man_. He could smell something; the scent from the attacker's body. He could smell and his smelling was sharp as a dog's in a place like this.

He smelled rust. Probably blood. And another familiar scent for him who had smelled it every day: Strawberry scent.

And the warm radiation emitted from the attacker's body, which he believed was standing near him, a few inches in front of him. And Light's instinct told him to slide down the wall, and he was right. Because at the next second, he heard a sound, undoubtedly caused by a light hit from the attacker's on the wall. The mysterious attacker was tracing the wall... _looking for Light's presence..._

Light was only able to hope the legs of the mysterious man wouldn't sweep all over the wall, or he would feel Light's body freezing down here. That man's shoes slowly squeaked. Light knew the man was turning around and moving to the right side to trace all over the wall, but luckily, the legs didn't trace the wall as well.

If Light was lucky, he might even be able to knock the attacker down. The mysterious man, after all, didn't stand too far away from him, only a few centimeters ahead. Light could knock the man down, but after that he wasn't sure whether he could run away or not in the darkness-

Suddenly, something crashed loudly a few meters at his right, Light almost shouted in shock. It sounded like a wooden box falling. His mind rotated fast and he started remember something, if he wasn't wrong, in this corner laid carton boxes and wooden boxes. The boxes contained electronic equipments. Watari once said he put the boxes right there to save someone, who unexpectedly trapped in the emergency stairs, which were equipped with the latest security system to ensnare the intruders.

Not waiting for the echo to fading, Light started crawling away from the wall. He heard the squeaking sound from the man's shoes moving to the scattered wooden boxes, while the hands were still tracing the wall. This was the only chance, while the attacker still traced the wall, he could slowly tiptoe to the stairs. Slowly, Light got to his feet-

But unfortunately, in a split second, Light's body was frozen, a statue. He swore that his heart missed a beat. He could hear, no, he could _feel_. He knew the attacker had already knelt down, crouching in front of him. Light could feel his presence. Not a foot which touched him, who was leaning and frozen against the wall, but a pair of warm hands, they came and rested against his left arm and on the wall above his head. A strawberry scent mixed with blood stroke his nose. A faint sound of breathing, and the warm breath washed over his face.

Light and the mysterious man in front of him went tense. No one dared move.

A few minutes of silence felt like hours, and those hands started to move, tracing the other man's body in silence. At the moment, Light wondered why the man didn't just strangle and kill him. It seemed the man needed more time to make himself certain that Light's body wasn't just a sack in the corner of the wall.

Light felt the hand passing through his right chest, almost tracing his left chest and if it stopped there - there was the place of his heart, which had been beating fast, and his life would end here and now. But his entire body was pulsing right now, the hand should feel the beat of life all over his body.

With all his might, Light pushed back hard against him. He raised his fist to hit the man's face, but the man caught his wrists. The man leaned forward, pressing him against the wall, Light could do nothing but struggle in his place.

Light gasped; he couldn't control it. He felt that holding it was useless anyway. The attacker had known that he was there.

Warm breath felt so real on his neck and made his eyes widen. Fear and cold, icy wind flowed all over his skin. Light bit his lips, every single feeling of his, fear, anxiety, confuse, anger, humiliation, miserable burned within his chest. This was far more terrible than any other terrifying nightmares in his life.

What kind of dream did he dream last night?

"W-who are you...?" He wanted to curse himself because of his own blurted words, hissing in the darkness and asking something possibly wouldn't be answered and, if it is answered, there was still no use of it.

"**Who am I...?**" the murderer asked back in reply. Light could feel the grin against his skin, causing his breath to stop in his throat. The murderer's voice was so deep and heavy, sucking out his consciousness. "**I** **thought you will never ask...**" he breathed once, hot breath crawled upon Light skin again.

Light's heart raced, for the deep voice sounded so recognizable, but-

The lips of devil moved unseen, slowly tracing to perhaps test out every detail of his skin, and, slowly went to his ear.

"**I am L**," the unseen man whispered, lips making a smirk against his ear. Strong strawberry scents stroke his nose.

Light's eyes snapped open, very wide.

OOO

_He ran as fast as his legs could carry him away, to wherever, wherever as far as possible. Through the wind, fighting the cold breeze which his skirt and black coat was unable to stop. _

_He stopped and looked around in wild, dark, black madness. Deep cliff without endwas laid before his eyes. Putting off his black coat, he threw it onto dry land. He kicked the wild grass and cried loudly in anger. Cold sweat drops trickled down his forehead. He took off the white shirt- the one he stole from one of the shops he passed- and sank his face into the cloth, taking in the certain smell of new articles. Blood trickled down his chin and onto the cloth, the white fabric turned red._

_Drip. Drip. Drip._

_Red thick liquid started to stain the dried land, they sounded like clock ticking._

_Drip. Drip. Drip._

_Clock ticking?_

_Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock._

_But in his ear, the sound was muted by his own heartbeat._

"Have you ever heard the story about Alice in Wonderland?"

"...Of course I have...it is a fiction story for children which have written in 1865 by an England author, named Lewis Caroll-"

"Do you know what the Cheshire cat told Alice? When Alice got lost and asked which path to choose?"

"..."

"She asked, 'Would you tell me, please, which way i ought to go from here?' and the mighty Cheshire cat answered, 'That depends a good deal on where you want to get to'. Then replied Alice again, 'Anywhere is fine, i don't much care where-' and the cat finally answered: 'then it doesn't matter which way you go, any path you choose would be the same.' That was what the cat said."

"Yes. But I do not understand what you are trying to say. We should-"

"Oh, have your brain damaged? Or moved down to your knee so I must explain it to you vividly?"

"..."

"You do know very well what I mean. That whichever path you choose now, the result would be the same. You cannot run away from your destiny. You were not being given any privilege to choose. Because you are Alice and you, now, are in Wonderland."

"...This... is mad...this is insane," whispered Alice, his voice so weak it heard like a groan. He kept struggling, trying to escape the reality.

"You already knew that, we're all mad here. I am mad, then you are mad as well."

Alice's blood started flowing violently in every single second. The white was turning red. Red was turning into a deeper hue of red. Blackened.

Staring down at Alice, he smirked.

_He smirked, but unable to laugh. He would become Alice. Alice... _Alice in hell _maybe. He took one step with one of his foot to the front, to the cliff._

_Why? Because whichever path to take, the result might be the same._

_That's what he thought when he fell down and down and down to the never-ending, bottomless cliff. He would keep falling and never climb up again._

_Dark. Black. Empty._

_Here there was nothing. No sound. No light, no air! Nothing! He couldn't breathe. couldn't breathe! There was no air, no air! He couldn't breathe. His mouth parted open to endure the pain. His face turned red. His nails turned white and hands clenched in pain._

_But those were useless. Even though he shouted, he wouldn't die. One minute passed. Two. Three minutes... and still he couldn't breathe. Nor could he die. Couldn't move. Couldn't breathe. Couldn't die. Dead, yet he was alive. Live, but he was dead. Death was an eternal life._

_In the world of emptiness._

_Forever._

_But he wasn't alone, there was him, it was _him..._he must fell down with him. Because it's all his fault. _

_Everything was because of him._

"...I am not...I am not mad..." murmured Alice, desperately trying to hide his face. Useless. He was already exposed. There was no way to covered the hole back. At the moment, the blood flew rapidly, slowly taking his life away.

"Oh no you are mad! If you are not mad, then you wouldn't have come here ... Now we both will soon attend a tea party. Do not be late...or else, you want your head being sunk into the tea pot?"

"_Henh henh henh!"_

_._

_._

_._

_._

**TBC**


	4. Chapter 4

**Warning for this chapter: Gore, violence and meretriciousness. But, remember, seeing is not always believing.**

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_Chapter Two_

_**Alphabet**_

"_Faith is __**knowledge**__ within the heart, __**beyond**__ the reach of proof."_

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"_But Justice is the top priority."_

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"**I am L.**"

Light's heart raced. The pungent smell of blood and sickening strawberry stroke his nose. He went tense, and then jerked. He almost couldn't breathe. The attacker was strong.

Biting the inside of his cheek in humiliation, Light tasted the metallic flavor of blood. His wrists was painfully pinned against the wall, shuddering uncontrollably in futile attempt to release. The murderer smiled against his chest every time he tried to fight back. The cruel cynical laugh followed next, echoing between his short breaths.

In the next second, Light froze. He felt something touching him, slowly tracing his neck, and then stopped at the junction between his neck and shoulder. _What does he want? What is this? _Light's breath hitched. His stomach began to rumble in nausea but he strove for control. Two lines of sharp teeth grinding against his skin, sending sparkles of electricity up his veins, then without warning, those devilish fangs bit through the flesh. Light suppressed his painful moans by biting his lip harder.

In the darkness.

By a murderer, whose face was unseen.

By someone who introduced himself as L.

L.

L.

_L...!_

Consciousness dawned upon him**. **That voice was the same tone that belonged to L. The smell... but no. Maybe the others could be tricked, but everything about L wouldn't be able to ensnare Light.

_This man is obviously not L!_

Struggling, Light thrust an elbow into the man's chest. The killer groaned and released his neck. In split second, Light directed a sharp kick to the man's ribs. A faint _crack _and a grunt. Light was just about to get up when a little clang was heard on the floor.

He went tense, this time, he didn't need the flashlight to see what that thing was. A sharp metal with its cold, ruthless tip. The thing flashed in the darkness when the owner grabbed it slowly, reflected by the light shed from the flashlight inside his pocket. The lights dimmed, Light could see his pale face there, with his amber eyes widening.

It was a knife, black-handled, its length full of scratches and black stains. It was raised high, with one clear goal: to slash directly through his heart.

"_NO!"_

He was Kira!

He was God!

In the darkness. In L's buildings. He would die miserably by someone unseen who was attacking him in this darkness? Someone who dared to admit he was L?

_He couldn't die here! Not now, when he was just a step ahead to reach all his dreams!_

Panic struck him, Light scrambled to his feet, useless. The killer punched him in his belly, and bang him against the wall, hard and painful. Light groaned, bending over in pain, he tasted blood in his mouth. The man held him really tight he couldn't breathe, he could only move his head.

The killer released his wrists, only to slid one hand around the wounded neck and squeezed. Light gasped, uttering an unstoppable cry, he desperately scratched his nails onto the man's wrists. He felt the knife cutting his upper shirt brutally as he did.

In the pitch darkness, Light felt that man grinning. Another shaky laugh, the killer lifted the black-handled knife, ready to lung it down to Light's chest, to shove it through his ribcage and into his heart. Light would die. The killer would stab him to death, probably with more than one thrust, but it would be over with the first.

Light lost consciousness. He felt his spirit had left his body.

He shut his eyes.

"_AAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHH!"_

Everything seemed to happen too fast for Light Yagami. His eyes widened. His breath still hitched in his throat, mouth still agape. In front of him, the killer was also freezing in his position.

The tip of his knife stopped only an inch in front of Light's left chest.

A scream. He heard a scream. That was someone's scream. No, That wasn't Light's.

That was someone's scream in this building. Deafening, but it sounded far. Light could have sworn the scream came from the lower floor.

"**This is really troublesome,**" the killer mumbled, his voice rather samey. The strawberry-scented breath fell across Light's face again.

Light heard chuckles. He felt the man loosening his grip, and gently released him. The body, the smell, and the knife also withdrew from him. Light could breathe again, yet he still froze. Slowly, the killer got to his feet, spun around and walked away. The sound of footsteps echoed again.

The footsteps started fading away from him. Descending the twelve flights of stairs; perhaps the killer was going to welcome the source of the scream. He walked down and down again, going further away from him, leaving Light Yagami in a semi-comatose condition, half-conscious.

_Why?_

It took a few minutes for Light to recover. He was still alive. Still breathing. His chest was hammering fast. Still as Light Yagami. Still as the owner of the Death Note and the designated God. The only person that owned a divine goal to create Utopia.

_Fuck._

Anger reigned over his body, causing him to get up without preamble. He couldn't believe what just happened to him. Immensely shocked, he was shaking all over, clenching his trembling hands tightly they throbbed. He growled, kicking the wooden boxes in the corner or the room. Light screamed his anger, it was booming and echoing in the darkness.

He was God! He was a noble! He was the divine! And someone, _someone_! Somebody lower than an aphid dared to degrade him. And the fact that he was powerless against him, _he let that ignorant man did that to him. He- _

Light panted. His skin felt hot when he gulped air desperately, attempting to calm himself.

He knew this wasn't a right time to just stand here and curse. Light had to move. Finding the Death Note was the priority. After that, he would find and kill that man, someone who dared to threaten God would receive the punishment more terrible than death!

Quickly, Light pulled out the flashlight and took the cake box on the floor, running as fast as he could to the 23rd floor. He didn't know where the killer was now; the sounds of the heavy footsteps vanished along with the sound of a metal door closed down there. He was already given a chance to move. The chance wouldn't come twice.

With a strong kick, he broke the door to the 23rd floor. Light rushed in, his eyes scanning every corner of that dark corridor. He couldn't see anything even though he had his flashlight on one hand. He ran, turning to the right, and then left and moved forward. So close to their main investigation room. The Death Note was inside the room on the end of the corridor, being secured inside the box- Wait, last time Light saw it, L held the notebook. Damn! Now he should search around to find where L kept the Death Note.

Filled with anger, his mind covered in a battle fog, he failed to think clearly. He had felt this once; back when he fell into L's trap in their first encounter. This might be his greatest weakness. Sometimes his mask went off his face, revealing his panic, and would ruin everything.

Cold sweat trickled down his cheeks. Gritting his teeth as he ran, at the same time trying in vain to tread on the floor silently. The empty corridor and lack of oxygen started to make him crazy. His madness might be cured if the Death Note was already in his hand, or if he saw with his own eyes that L had died.

In the next second, Light gasped in surprise. He slipped and almost fell to the ground, something slippery broke his balance. Light reached the nearest wall to support his weight. He saw the pool of blood flooding the floor of the corridor. The metallic wall stained, and heap of flesh... or something messy scattered around the floor. The air was rotten and fishy. The flashlight almost fell from his grip, and he held it tight now. The other hand grabbed the cake box which was unclear to whom he would give it.

He grimaced as he struggled to ran in the slippery floor, jumping over a few dark things he didn't want to see in the middle of his walk**.** At the next turn he wished he could close his eyes and cover his mouth to stop him from throwing up. He ran as fast as he could. His body felt weightless, floating in the air as if he had wings on his feet.

_Almost there, almost there!_

He wanted to scream out loud when he jumped over the last piece of corpse in the way, turning as fast as lightning to the next corridor. He didn't stop running, he would never stop running.

However, at the next seconds when he ran to the next corridor, Light froze completely, eyes widened.

The sound of the gun, it sounded very long and slow to his ears. Even the flash of the gunpowder seemed flashing too slow. The air friction between the bullet and the air, as well as the projectile, seemed really slow. Everything felt as if it was played in slow motion.

Here, at last, Light finally understood.

He knew how it felt to stand face to face with death.

His knees buckled, his pupils contracted, his breath hitched in his throat. He didn't even scream. _He couldn't scream_. He barely blacked out but his weakened knees gave him strength to do the reverse. He glared to his death.

Time seemed to freeze. Suddenly the corridor felt like an empty space, sucking all the life air that was left. Because Light had suddenly stopped hearing any sounds. The world narrowed. Empty. What left was only the emptiness, melted and fused in the air, and then disappeared.

The smell of gunpowder still stirred up his nose, the most terrifying smell which was stuffier than the scent of blood itself. The bullet pierced less than an inch on the wall right behind him. The wall was cracked, and the bullet emitted smoke. Light didn't have to look behind to see the color of the smoke, he had already seen it.

Light saw the very moment when the man, who was standing there and holding up a handgun, pulled the trigger, the deadly bullet in his direction. Light had seen all that. He had seen the black hole of the gun, and the bullet which as fast as the lightning ran out from that hole. He could see the border between the human world and underworld in that split second. As a human, Light could see his own death, he saw the end of his life.

The end of his life which was separated from him only with a distance less than an inch.

OOO

"...R-Ryuzaki...?"

Muscles constricted in Light's throat. The name slid out from his tongue in breathless, shaky voice. He couldn't hide his face, which now was spotted by a bright flashlight.

On the other hand, L's face was unseen, but Light could see the exterior of a white, infamous corpse-pale face that belonged to the man who almost became his murderer tonight. It was paler than usual – white as snow. Light didn't know who was trembling, or the one trembling first, he or L. The pale hand and those long fingers which were holding the flashlight, and the other hand grabbed the gun and its trigger so tightly, made his knuckles turned white. In the darkness, Light could see that all.

Their body were frozen. No one dared speak, staring at each other in silence. The corridor still shrouded in mystery and horror, with the air brought the coppery scent of blood. The air was cold. But now, they transformed and created hot temperature. Light felt his nape burned so much, he turned red.

Until, there was a human voice, a deep baritone broke the icey silence.

"Yagami Raito."

On a second thought, rather than human's voice, it sounded like a snake hissing in the thick bushes. It also heard as soft as the calm waves reaching the seashore. It was hard to predict whether it was nervous, fear, shock or it was just hoarse inside that voice.

Light didn't know whether he should be happy for being able find his biggest nemesis, the man who almost turned to be his murderer tonight. There he was. L stood upright in front of his eyes - with a gun still pointed toward Light - in a living state. He was real.

This was the real L.

Real.

"Raito-kun."

Light saw that colorless lips opened and then closed again. If Light didn't hide his mind in his own world, surely he would felt that relieve and astonishment mixed in his rival's voice, hiding behind L's cold exterior. But Light only stared at him, silent. He felt that he just heard the mosaic of sentences fused slowly in the air, and the time walked slowly.

Raito-kun.

Raito-kun.

How unbelievably monotone.

In the darkness, L's forehead slightly wrinkled**. **His face didn't change even in the worst situation, still expressionless. That damn pistol which almost killed Light was still directed toward him, and the flashlight, shining upon Light's embarrassing figure which still trembling and stained with creepy blood.

"Why are you here Yagami-kun?"

And a cold-blooded voice.

"..."

"..."

"I..."

Great. The bright and great undergraduate, the model student named Light Yagami right now lost his speaking skills suddenly. 'Why are you here?' It was a simple question that was too simple yet high for him to reach.

Slowly, Light lifted the little fuchsia cake box a few inches upward. The wide eyes of the detective began locking on it slowly, he directed the flashlight to the cake box. Confusion clearly etched across his face. And, finally, L put his gun down, brought it to the side of his thigh, but still grabbing it tightly.

"...Your order," Light said.

Light became insane. He felt like laughing when he heard his own unbelievable sentence, yet his voice too far from the kindhearted voice of the pizza-delivery man. His face hot and his body shivered. It was getting worse when L started walking toward him.

Light froze. His teeth clattered loud. He could still smell the scent of gunpowder that left from L's bullet which stuck a few inch at the wall behind his head.

L's attitude toward him could be considered as someone who poured oil to fire.

"Thank you, Yagami-kun."

L carefully took the cake from Light's with a casual style as if nothing had happened here. Light kept silent. His hand froze in the air, the same position as before, reminded us to a silly drama or cartoon movies where the player faced dramatic but silly situation. It was like Tom chasing Jerry and then crashed the wall and with a flat pose stuck in there before falling to the ground.

Light kept silent as L crunched the strawberry cake – which Light bought tonight with full of sweat while listening to Misa's chatter the whole half day all the way.

Suddenly, the world narrowed. Everything around Light faded into a red haze. Everything was blood red, except for he and the man before him.

"Quite impressive, Yagami-kun. However, I suggest you to leave now; you shouldn't be here under any circumstan-"

A hard punch landed successfully on the detective's cheek.

Light suspected a few of the detective's teeth broke into pieces, or maybe his cheekbone – but magically, and he regretfully realized that he was wrong.

L landed on the floor, Light chased him and jumped over that body. He grabbed the detective by his collar, crying out everything to release the lava from his volcano inside him.

"IS THAT ALL, L!"

Again, he threw a punch to the man he detested the most in this world. There was a dull, sickening crack. L fell back and rolled on the ground. Light reached down, grabbing L by his shoulder roughly, forcing him to stand up. L's fingers clenched in his hands, the man hissed some words Light was unable to hear. In return, Light bang him against the wall, and pelted his stomach with punches. L groaned once when Light released him. He fell on his knees, coughing blood on the ground.

Light didn't care about the detective's impression to him after this. He didn't care when L started to get up. The blood dripping from L's nose and mouth, and Light hit him hard again. L fell on the ground, curling up. He didn't care. This wasn't a problem whether he was Kira or not, whether he hated L or not, whether he was Light Yagami, a clever, kind and generous student, the owner of a strong sense of justice. Whoever he was, whoever they were, would do the same as he did right now.

"IS THAT ALL YOU CAN SAY AFTER YOU ALMOST MADE A HOLE IN MY HEAD? IS THAT ALL, L?"

L had almost made a hole in Light's head. There was a proof: several strands of Light's hair at his right side were probably cut, the result from friction between the bullet and the air. The empty air which separated him and the death itself was something incredible and indescribable. Even deep in his heart Light wanted to kneel and thank thousand times to whoever it was – God who allowed him to stay alive and able to hit this disgusting man.

"ANSWER ME!"

No answer. L's body was unbelievably weak in his grip, Light felt that he was gripping a rag doll. But an extreme anger succeeded in blinding his mind about this.

Light hissed, he grimaced in the ugliest way. He didn't want to imagine how his look in front of L's face was right now. Luckily, the darkness covered them, the flashlight had thrown to the floor and rolled away from them. L wouldn't be able to see his ugly mask clearly, which was so far from perfect Light Yagami's image. The intent to kill this man burned within his chest right. Tonight, it had reached the maximum point.

Tonight-

Wait.

Come to think about it... Light could kill this weak, powerless guy in his grip right away... All he had to do was to suffocate L, strangle him... to death...

Everything was too perfect. The darkness, the mysterious _personae non grate _whoever he was could be used as a bait and the main suspect, without a security system... too perfect...

...very perfect... a big opportunity that only comes once and would never come again...

... to kill L...

_No!_

No. He wouldn't do that. Never.

That was the same way as the common criminal, the pschycopaths' way, he didn't want to do that low action. Especially with a body that was already weak like a cloth-made doll in his hand, the defenseless prey unable to fight made him lose a desire to chomp him.

Not to mention, how the mysterious killer threaten him equally low on the stairs, and let him go with a way too-

Light released L, and staggered backward. The detective fell down with a soft thud on the floor. His body was really weak, Light felt he just had grabbed a rag doll. He wouldn't believe that thing was a human if he didn't hear his shaky breath. L's body, which was now curled up like a shelless snail, felt so cold in his grip at that moment.

Both of them said nothing, still panting. Light bit his lower lip, he saw the cake he bought this afternoon laid a few centimeters from L's defenceless face. The flashlight, which now had stopped rolling, and the gun that was thrown and bumped into the cold wall. Only their panting breath was the only sound around them.

A few seconds felt like hours, and the world's greatest detective, whose headquarter now was having an intruder, finally started to move. L tried to crouch, slightly winced with the pain, but keeping his face emotionless. With the curled up position, he lifted both of his feet to his chest, hugged them with his hands, one thumb was in his lips. His panting was gradually recovered.

Light almost turned around to leave him, for he had his job done, the cake delivery without getting paid, and then he would never return to this building. When he reached his home he would pray for the attacker's luck, that he would find L and kill that man.

But he was only able to stuck in his place, unmoving.

"I am sorry."

L's soft voice sounded like a groan. Said in short, and quick like cursing, even echoed in the corridor, quite out loud even it was only several octaves above a whisper. For a moment, Light went tense. Something like a heavy knots constricted within his guts. As if he wanted to empty his stomach, to explode because of the pressure insid-

"_Uuugh!"_

Immediately, Light turned away from the detective, covering his mouth and running to the corridor behind him. He was lucky they were a line of rooms and a door to the toilet. He entered, proceeded the sink immediately and drained his stomach.

For a moment, he stood there trembling and panting, he turned on the sink. Hands drenching by water, he cleaned his mouth and face and neck. His hands still shaking, he did it all rapidly. Both of his legs gave up, he slumped down in front of the sink.

"Forgive me, Yagami-kun. But i believe this is not time to sit and rest there."

That creepy voice.

That creepy, infamous, disgusting voice, that was always calm and tedious.

The voice that made him want to throw out a hundred times whenever he heard it.

Light turned his head with an enraged look, forehead wrinkled in anger. He wasn't angry with L, yes, he was angry, but he felt more anger to himself. He just did something embarrassing and thwarting in front of his archenemy. He looked pathetic.

L pointed his flashlight to him, then changed its direction to the wall beside him – perhaps he realized the teen was in a bad mood. L shook his head and stepped inside.

Blinking a few times, Light noticed that L had offered a hand– maybe he generously (before his death) wanted to help him stand up. Light almost parried that annoying hand and impounded his intention. The detective brought a handkerchief which color was undetected towards his face.

"No thanks," Light hissed, unwilling to take the handkerchief from L's hand. He stood up by his own, and then took some tissues from the nearest tissue holder at the sink, then wiped his mouth. Light rolled his eyes when L stared at him.

"What floor are we at, Yagami-kun?" L's hoarse voice rung after a long pause, in a non-sequitur.

"What?" Light asked, it wasn't because he didn't hear L, but because he thought it was the most foolish question in the world.

The owner of the building did not know at what floor he is now? Oh yes, this man wasn't sane either, of course.

Light heaved a sigh and answered, "Twenty-three"

L said nothing. His eyes traced the dark ceilings of the bathroom – something L always did when he was thinking. Until finally, he nodded and said, "I see."

"You really don't know?" Impossible.

"No. Because I came here using the _vent._"

_Vent._

"Ah! _I see_." Light put a cynical pressure to his voice, and didn't respond the pasty face which for a while threw a questioning glance to him.

L kept his handkerchief back, which now clearly had been stained by red liquid and put it in that in his jeans pocket. He turned away, stepping out from the toilet. Light just wanted to follow him out but then he froze at his tracks. The detective was closing the toilet door – quietly – and locked it with a soft click sound, locking both of them in the little room.

"Ryuzaki? Wha-"

Anxiety struck Light. He couldn't finish his sentence when a shape of a man with dark hair and unseen face in the darkness turned to him. Instinctively, Light threw his body to the marble wall behind him, staring vigilantly at his enemy. He gulped and widened his eyes to L who was coming closer. He held a defensive position, ready if the other man wanted to attack him.

But L walked passed him. He walked to the sink and opened a glass drawer, looking for something there.

_Click._

A few seconds between Light's confusion, he at last could see every part of the toilet clearly. The partitions and bluish-white ceilings. An emergency lamp from the glass box lit brightly offloaded the darkness. L walked to opposite direction from Light's standing place. He opened the drawers again, looking for something.

Light could see L from head to toe clearly. L's sweater wasn't milky-white any longer, it had turned to dark red-stained white. That red liquid stained Light's hands when he grabbed the other man's collar. Only the torso part that got dirty. Between anger, at that moment, he didn't realize there were bruises at the other man's white neck.

"Ryuzaki?"

That name slit out unintentionally from Light's mouth, and he couldn't pull it back when the owner of the alias turned and looked at him. The bright light from the lamp now fell on L, exposing some parts of his face and neck. Something reddish like bruises decorated that sickening pale-white skin. Not just in the neck area, under the bright light which fell onto the sweater's white collar, Light just realized that was-

Biting his lower lip, Light looked away when the detective stared at him

"Nothing."

The raven said nothing, letting Light ended his statement himself. Turning his back on him again, L took a box of mechanical tools and walked toward one closet, the middle one. He opened the door and stood on the closet, trying to relocate something above his head: a vent.

Silence now filled the room; only sounds from screwdrivers struggled to open a naughty, corroded screw. Light didn't understand why L made that kind of troubling vents like this. Maybe it was good for safety, but it was also a big trouble in this emergency situation.

"...What is going on actually?"

That was the only question Light was able to throw out of his lips, then he set his jaw again.

L didn't turn around, too busy with his lovely vent which needed four screwdrivers to open. A few seconds passed, when Light started to think that his question would remain answered, L's calm voice jerked him.

"It is nothing. There is nothing you have to worry about, Yagami-kun."

Light felt his blood pressure increased, and his veins started a low, humming pounding against his temples.

"May I ask you something?" Light asked.

L turned his head over his shoulder, gazing down at Light's face, which was filled with obvious anger.

"Are you insane?"

Hearing the cynical hissed from Light's mouth, the detective stopped his activity. Those midnight orbs returned his glare, and Light was taken aback when he found the expression within those eyes so dark, expressing something unable to explain by words.

"I do not understand why Yagami-kun said so."

Light almost spat in front of his face. He hated liars, but he hated _even more_ someone who still insisted in his lies, although the truth had been perfectly revealed in front of his eyes.

"Don't be _stupid_, Ryuzaki. This is not time to act as if there was nothing happened, when it was true there was something _happening_ here," Light said, his voice an octave higher. "Unless you were indeed insane. Turning the lights off, playing gunshots and laid a blood-bathed corpse in your bathtub...and bunches of meat that was left at the whole corridors!"

They stared at each other for a few seconds. Light just wanted to smirk as he predicted that L would surrender and tell him everything. But Light forgot: this man was L. Every answer and reaction that he got was always beyond his imagination; rocked every foundation of his and broke them down to pieces. L never stopped to make him amazed.

"Yes, I felt that as well. Maybe I am indeed insane," L murmured, as if not interested for joining the conversation. That's enough to light up fire in Light's wick. "And they are not actual corpses, Yagami-kun, but mannequins. I put that thing in there to brighten up the atmosphere. It is also fake blood that I used, the same thing which was used in action and horror movies making."

"Ha! What a great sense of humor but there are no mad people that would admit he is mad, _L_! _Even though you are indeed crazy_. And mannequins to lighten up the situation you said?" Light's hoarse voice echoed in that empty room. There was a feeling of deep contentment after shouting L's alias, and he saw the detective's reaction which for a moment looked taken aback.

But L said nothing.

Shaking his head tiredly, Light lowered his voice to the extent he still could satisfy himself. "...Fine, I give up. My apologize but I remember now that you were really insane. A patient who suffers fethism disease. All right, the next question is, _who is he_, Ryuzaki?"

L bit his thumb, his facial expression didn't change at all. "Who do you mean by _who_, Yagami?"

Light raised his eyebrows when he heard the word stressed by L, and the absence of the suffix 'kun' behind his surname – the signs which showed the detective was angry. Light didn't care. He was the one who should be angry. So, he squared his shoulders, as if he wanted to show who should be the one who had power to attack first in this battle.

"The one who have been infiltrating your headquarters."

L shrugged, he had been avoiding making an eye contact. "I do not understand what do you mean, Yagami-kun, there is nothing here and I am alone here since some time ago."

That statement was reimbursed by Light's face wrinkled in disgust. "Oh, unluckily your big lies would never ensnare me! Because I've met _him_, L. _I have already met him._"

Silence. L just stared, gnawing his thumb heartlessly until it turned red. If it wasn't stopped, maybe a cannibalism will occur tonight, but Light didn't care.

"Forgive me, Yagami-kun. But there was no one here in this building but me."

"Don't act like a fool, L! Then could you explain this?" Light pulled his collar and showed a red wound, quite contrast there. "That man, whoever he is that had entered your base, _did_ this to me."

Silence.

Light wanted to curse himself, for he thought L would scold him by saying that kind of thing – being humiliated and nearly _killed _in the darkness – shouldn't have been bother him as a mature man. But he could have sworn he saw a flash from the obsidian eyes which slowly widened.

L's dark eyes watched the wounds in his neck without blinking. Light could see the genius brain in L's head was processing hard now, and to Light's annoyance, he would never understand what the other was thinking about.

A few moments passed, they glared at each other again. Light's narrowed and L, the opposite, his face buoyant, as if he just found an enlightenment.

"Yes. I've seen it already. That was mark from love bites or whatever that you did with Amane Misa, considering you both had dated for..." L rolled his eyes and gazed up on the ceiling. "...approximately six hours. There was no evidence that was the intruder's doing or-"

Light stopped L's speech by stepping forward so sudden. L's flabbergasted look in front of his own didn't stop him even just one bit, he kept eliminating space between them. Until, finally, L seemed ready to kick the teen, who stood up only a few centimeters, in front of him.

Quickly, Light lifted his hands, showing another prove.

"Then how about this, L?"

Light, within his head now, was dancing cheerfully when the detective froze as he observed Light's wounded wrists. There were rough fingers marks left on them. Undeniable evidence that were made when the killer pinned him against the wall in their fight.

L narrowed his eyes for a while, and then blinked three times. "Yes, i can see that, but what can I say about it Yagami-kun? I also do not believe that Misa-san is aggressive in bed and-"

A harsh punch landed on that sickening pale cheek. Light admitted that he was amazed to this world's most controversial man. True, only L, his rival, his archenemy, this century's greatest detective, the one who was expert in making his patience burns out, the connoisseur of making him burst out suddenly.

"Eat all your bullshits L, I won't listen to them. But you must listen to this!" Light hissed in front of his face, grinding his teeth, "Do you know? When I asked him who he is, do you know what his answer was? He said _he is you, L_!"

The weak body in Light's grip didn't move, those black fierce eyes widened.

Light continued to bark, "Did you hear that? Someone dared to use your name when he was attacking me, and to whom I must seek responsibility for this, L?"

L's body finally moved, and Light waited. L seemingly tried to stand up but the punches he received forced him to stay on the ground. He slid down to the floor, panting slightly, face lowered. L looked like a pauper looking for something to eat in the garbage. Suddenly, Light felt his stomach turned into a knot, he felt as if he had turned into the antagonist here.

Light wanted to kick L again – _yelled _at him again if the detective still didn't answer his question in a few seconds, but he stopped. He frowned in disbelieve and suddenly speechless.

Because, L lifted his face, and smiled at him. A strange smile on a strange face. A smile seemingly... tried to amuse him. It looked a little bit strained for his face, but fitted enough, though.

"So i take it... Yagami-kun... finally got it..." L sighed softly, and Light grimaced when he heard a weak laugh that seemed impossibly came out from those pale lips. L pressed his palm on his temple, his black thick hair disheveling sideway, hiding his eyes. "Yes, at that time, _it was me_, Yagami-kun. I was only joking. Forgive me."

This was insane. For a moment, Light didn't know what to say when L got up to his feet, then walked slowly toward him. Instinctively, Light stepped backward, until, his back bumped against the cold wall. L's smile became outrageously wider. He put one of his hands beside Light's head, entrapping the teen's defenseless body in there.

_W-What the fuck, L?_

"Pardon me. But I didn't intend to scare you," L said softly, bringing his face nearer. Their noses so close, close enough to made their face barely touched each other.

Gasping in shock, Light parried the detective's hand which already lifted to caress his cheek. The realization about L _pretended_ to... what? _Seduce _him...! What the fuck? This was so frighteningly aberrant!

Quickly, he grabbed L by the shoulder, pushing and overturning their positions. In a split second, L's face turned faint shock, but Light, in the middle of his blistering anger, didn't pay attention to that.

"You really made me _sick_ L! _Sick_!" Light shouted the incoherent words in front of L's face, who was turning his head back to avoid their foreheads from thudding.

For a while, both of them stood in the uncomfortable position; didn't move or talk. In the middle of his anger, Light wished the mysterious killer who had attacked him was indeed L. So he would have a stronger reason to kill L in front of everyone, without him being suspected as Kira.

A few seconds later, Light froze, for he saw something real, something that attracted so much, inviting him to smile so wide and then burst into laugh.

"Yaga-"

"Yes! You will not be able to deny it with _this one_, L."

Before L could react, Light torn the man's white sweater, revealing half of his neck and torso. L gasped. Struggling, he tried to counter the surprise attack by sweeping his leg, but Light pushed him against the marble wall. He even stepped on L's feet, so the man wouldn't perform a capoeira right in time.

Glaring at L's face, Light wanted to sneer but he held the feeling, for he needed to look serious here. Acting brutally would make L's suspicion to him that he was Kira rose up.

L hissed a little bit louder when Light grabbed his wrists, and pressed his body to locked his movements. Until the detective only had one choice: to stay still.

"Ninety-five, Yagami-kun, _Ninety-five percents,"_ L hissed, his dark eyes flared bright with hue of antagonism in his face. Look, the detective had started using percentage to attack him, but Light didn't care.

"You said that you are the only living man in this building, right?" asked Light.

L didn't reply, staring sharply at Light.

"Fine, then, please explain about this one, Ryuzaki!"

Light reached L's white collar, tearing it wider than before. L struggled and Light, forcefully shoved him farther to the wall, letting the detective gasp when he added some pressures on the wounded wrists. A weak, startled cry came out from that throat. Light knew it must be hurt so badly, but he refused to stop. Soon he would indeed shut L's mouth forever.

"Look at this, Ryuzaki! What is this?" Light barely smirked when his eyes locked on L's black eyes. He could see the reflection of his face in those eyes, and his image faded away when L shook his head.

"I don't understand wha-"

Roughly, Light pulled L's arm and brought him to the mirror. Grabbing L by the shoulder, Light stood behind him revealed the inevitable evidence that was shown in the mirror that never lied. A wound, observable red mark on the white neck. Quite similar with Light's, but this one was much deeper. It was a bite mark, sharp and deep, and dried blood on it. And also rough fingers marks. Some other stains on the white collar, which Light was sure that was blood from the wounds.

"Beautiful huh? _Love Bite _on this neck of yours, Ryuzaki."

L said nothing, glaring at the mirror unblinkingly. His eyes narrowed a little – almost noticeable – but Light was able to catch even the smallest change from the man in front of him. Apprehension clearly portrayed on the pale face.

Light couldn't hold his desire for smiling in satisfaction. "What? Now you will keep saying that you were the one who bit and strangle your own neck?"

But then, the blooming smile faded from Light's face. He saw a cynical smile painted L's facial mask now.

"Fine then, I concede. I will tell you everything. Let me go, Yagami-kun."

The teen released him and took several steps backward, giving chance and place for L to speak. He glared hatefully at the detective.

L took one inhalation and exhalation, and then stated, "I suppose that you realized I was quite strange since this noon."

"Quite, and it was clearly connected with what is happening tonight, isn't it?"

"No."

"...What?"

"Nothing is happening tonight."

Light was about to raise his fist and smack it on the detective's nose, but L raised his hands. "Wait, I have not finished my words." And Light put down his hand again, both fisting at his sides. L continued, "True, I indeed tried to get rid of Yagami-kun and the others from here because..."

A flash from the detective's eyes grew darker.

Light narrowed his eyes. He saw those long fingers raised to touch the mark on that alabaster neck, softly rubbing over it. "Because...?"

"Because I have already planned to invite my girlfriend here, and make love to her, as you can see by yourself." L tilted his head to indicate the roughly-bite and glowing red marks of fingers around his neck, which looked like a mark of a torment rather than from love-making session. "And I do not wish anybody to interrupt our precious moments. That's all."

With that wonderfully quaint answer, that made Light's mouth opened wide enough, the detective turned around again, heading to the vent to resume his delayed action.

_Girlfriend? M-Make love?_

Something that would never come out from L's mouth.

And tonight Light heard it with his own ears.

The teen didn't realize he had burst into laughter and it was succeed to draw L's full attention.

"Ha ha ha ha... HAHAHAHA! Yes.. yes! That does sound very much like you!"

"Excuse me?" L's voice sounded deceptively calm, yet dangerous.

"_mmf... _nothing... _Ha ha_- nothing is funny here, hahahaha!" Light snickered between his breath, didn't pay attention to L's stern face.

Of course Light didn't believe it. It was too hard to believe. Nevertheless, what made him laugh not only because L spoke something he had never imagined before, but mainly, because the lie heard like a lie that was forced to came out from those lips. He couldn't cope with this!

Light could see how L struggled so hard to hide his secret. He didn't even hesitate to spill out cheap lies to run from the truth. Unlike Light, L never really tried to keep his dignity, he never cared about what people thought of him.

However, this fact made Light's chest tightened. This wasn't look like L... It was so uncharacteristic of him! Trying to deny the fact he had experienced before his own eyes?

"Fine, Ryuzaki. So where is this aggressive woman of yours?" Light said so because he wanted to respect L's great effort, that's all.

"I do not know. May be she is the one who met you at the stairs a few moments ago. She is quiet a playful girl."

"Ha! A truly remarkable attempt to lie, and really is illogical, Ryuzaki. I remember clearly the one that attacked me obviously was a man with heavy voice. Or else, your girlfriend is... a man, or a shemale, and then I won't say anything about it."

"That's right, Yagami-kun. I am a _homosexual _indeed. I am playing hide and seek with him. So you have already misinterpreted about what is happening tonight, Yagami-kun," L replied with nonchalance, the dull tone of it betrayed his controversial words. A moment later, a big creaking sound echoed in every corner of the toilet. Light saw the vent on the closet was opened; L jumped and looked at him straight in his eyes. "Come inside. Keep walking and you will find a lift for luggage. Get down to the ground floor, you will find an underground corridor which will bring you out from this building; there is a map that will show you the way there. Quick."

Light raised his eyebrows so ever lightly. "Oh? How amusing, Ryuzaki. If it is indeed there is nothing happening here why should i get out from here using a vent?"

"No, your presence here already annoys me too much. You have to respect my privacy. Surely that you wouldn't be happy if there is someone who disrupts in your personal moments. Later, if you already got out from here, I want you to forget everything. I do not want there is someone knows about-"

Light ignored those bullshits, he cut in quickly, "And then why I have to get out from there? Why I don't just go through the main gate, Ryuzaki? Just tell your aggressive darling that I want to get out from here, and after that you two can be together without any disturbance."

"No you can't... He will easily get... jealous, he might not be happy to see you here, Yagami-kun. So before you break our relationship, you have to-Yagami-kun!"

Light was bored. He was _fucking_ bored hearing all those unattractive lies. He felt dizzy with the hotness within his gut. Tonight, he would change his perception about his greatest rival. In fact, L didn't merit to be his equivalent at all. '_Does he think that I am a fool? Trying to trick me with his conspicuous cheapest lies like that?_' And these thoughts made him angry more than he ever felt. What the hell L was thinking? How incredibly idiot L was if he thought he could trick Light! In this situation, even the underage boy would know what's going on here!

"Yagami-kun! Where are you going?" The bastard's voice sounded emotionless, but it wasn't enough to deceive Light's ears. Enough.

Light gave an innocent smile to him, holding the doorknob, he spoke softly, "Get out from here with a normal way, what else Ryuzaki?"

"No, Yagami-kun." L's voice changed to full authority. "Do not do that."

Light laughed once. "Relax, Ryuzaki. I will speak kindly to your aggressive lover, and you don't have to worry. Now I will come out and speak to him."

Light opened the lock, ignoring L's obvious panic call. Outside the toilet, the total darknes blinded his eyes, but he didn't care anymore. Taking a deep breath, Light started to scream his anger.

"HEEEEEY!" The uncharacteristic yell was so loud, almost funnily echoed in the darkness, even Light's own ears rung. He was sure that anyone, who was inside this building, could hear his voice. "HEEEYY, THE MAN WHO CALLED HIMSELF AS L'S LOVER! COME HERE! I WANT TO TALK TO-"

A pair of strong hands grasped the back of his shirt. Light gasped, he was thrown and landed with his back first on the marble floor. His face screwed painfully for a few seconds, but everything faded when seeing L's face staring down at him by the door. There was no expressionless that commonly painted L's face.

"Fine then. Yagami Raito."

Finally, Light heard that serious tone. A small smile bloomed on Light's face, although his body was in pain. He sat on his place, eager to hear what L would say next.

L gazed down at him. The ivory-white face was contrast with the black hair that curtained his swollen cheek. Light was unable to see L's eyes when he walked toward him.

For a moment, Light stared at him with amazement, but he quickly shook his head and got to his feet. "Ryuzaki."

Their eyes met each other. Again, Light saw his reflection on L's midnight orbs. This time, the reflection didn't fade away, even got stronger every time they took a breath, quietly staring at each other.

L wouldn't tear his eyes away from him, and he wouldn't lie this time.

"Indeed. There is a little problem here, Yagami-kun."

'_A little, he said?' _But at least Light felt realived. A few was better than nothing. At least the detective was willing to speak. Even though not as much as he wished.

"Nevertheless, whatever that happened here clearly is not your business, Yagami Raito," the raven said. His eyes shifted back from his. Light could see a flash that showed urgency burned inside the depths of its blackness, "I ask you to leave this place as soon as possible and forget it all. This is for your own good, not for anyone."

'_Not for anybody? Ha! Lately, he already lied for himself, didn't he? There is no one who would lie for other's people safety! If there is, obviously it is not L!' _Light thought cynically.

"Unfortunately, I can't just leave like that. And I think this case has already turned to be my business too, Ryuzaki. Recalling how _someone _almost shot my head and made a hole in it and how the intruder had done someth-"

"I will take the responsibility."

"You- What?"

"I will take all responsibilities, Yagami-kun. I guarantee he will not be able to harm you again, and I already said I am sorry about my mistake at that moment."

Surprised, Light couldn't believe the statement. "It is not as easy as you-"

"This problem would be ninety eight percent harder if you do not follow my advice. You must leave at once; this is the main priority," L cut in with slightly tilted head. "Unless Yagami-kun wants to face death in his young age."

The statement had caused Light's conviction to be shaking a little, he tried not to gulp when L moved an inch closer."I know, your life is precious, and it is impossible that you want to end your life here, Yagami Raito."

L was right. Light shouldn't die here. Soon he would reach the utopia. Once he left this place, that dream would be... coming true. This was a good fortune from God over there supported his way.

L may be dead tonight. He would be.

"It is true, it's hard for me to believe how dangerous this situation is. But..."

Light sighed heavily. The desire within him after witnessing the terror in one night, he wouldn't able to sleep peacefully at home if L refused telling him the truth. The mystery would probably remain impenetrable.

But it wasn't that Light was caring about what happened in L's building.

Light shrugged and looked away. "I- forget about it. Then how about you, Ryuzaki?"

"I'll stay here," L replied coldly.

Light glared at L. "What? No, wait, why you-"

"I am waiting for Watari." At the moment, L seemed thinking thoughtfully, but quickly finished his sentence, "if I am lucky, I will not get killed."

Liar. This was not the L he used to know. How could the man who always hid himself behind the scene to avoid death could say so boldly about it?

Actually it wasn't true. Light understood why L had been insisted not to show his face to the world. His position was the most hazardous than any others. When the first time Light met L, perhaps blinded by temper, his first impression about L was a coward, a self-centered type. He was frightened of the world and only showed bravery in his locked room.

But he was wrong.

After learning the truths about L, sometimes Light thought that man as an abstract. Unreachable. Invisible. A dream-like creature, existing only in fairy tales or comic books. Alien. Robot. He loathed these kinds of thoughts; professing his rival as an impossible man to be reached. Although the fact itself was solid.

L had a supreme ability, far too strong to be able to attract millions criminals out there to hunt his head. That was the main reason why L chose to shield himself using his own supremacy.

Hiding himself from the world and for the world.

_For the world?_

Bullshit. Although L would die eventually, perhaps he only put his life on the line for whatever fake justice idealism he had, and Light knew they were just a lie. Sacrificing himself – it was unlike L at all.

But if...he died for protecting... Light Yagami...

No, this was impossible for L... it couldn't be.

According to Light's deductions, whoever the killer that attacked this building, must be one from millions that wants L's head. He longed for the greatest, the most skillful detective in the world die.

Light realized, as Kira, he was also one from those millions of people. To reach his utopia, L must die. He must pull L's head out of his body with his own hands. _L must die. He was dangerous and he must die._

Light snapped the thought at once.

First, he had to get out of this place. But he would refuse to leave before getting the Death Note back in his hand.

Light made a grimace of shock and worry. "What did you say Ryuzaki? If you're lucky? For the God's sake, Ryuzaki!"

"No need to worry, Yagami-kun. There is 45% possibility we will meet again tomorrow morning in this building. And everything will go on as usual; you do not have to worry about anything."

"That calculation is quite low for you who have an arithmetic brain. Where is the 55 % one?"

"_Please_, Raito-kun." The plea succeeded in locking Light's mouth. "Whatever happens you have get out of this place. This is not the right time to act immature-"

_BAM!_

They froze. The cold air once again made Light shiver.

They heard a loud bang sound from outside the toilet.

_BAM! DUNG! BAM!_

Someone was trying to breakthrough the door.


	5. Chapter 5

"Ryuzaki!" Light hissed, glaring at the door and staggering backward. He knew he had been too emotional. He could just leave the place in peace if not blinding by rage.

L's gun was in his hand, his body tense, ready to attack.

_BAM! DUNG! BAM!_

L moved forward. "This is it, Yagami-kun. Leave, I will buy you some time!"

Everything was going very well. The heavy metallic door started to break down. A few more hits and the toilet door would bear the same fate with the doors on the 13th floor. Light had called the killer, now he only had to leave and the killer would come inside. He wished for L's death, and this was a golden chance that would never happen again. L would be killed. Light would become a God. Perhaps Rem had taken the Death Note with her. But-

But...

"No," Light answered, shaking his head frantically. He stood numb and shaken. His shoulders were tight, tension radiating across and down his back.

What was this? He could't move his legs. He had to leave. This was the last chance.

"_Yagami!_" L shouted at him.

The world narrowed. As though he was under the drugs effect, Light couldn't hear any sounds, he saw nothing but red. All he could hear was the harsh rasp of his breathing, and L's voice.

"No..." Light shook his head, taking a few steps backward from the door. Before he could stop himself, he had reached L's arm, pulling the man roughly in desperation. "No if I don't get out with you, Ryuzaki. You must come with me! Come on!"

L shook his head. "Listen. Let's make an agreement. I will tell you everything after you get out of this place. We will meet tomorrow morning here, and you are free to ask everything you want to know."

How incredibly absurd!

"If I may copy your words, Ryuzaki, there is one thousand percent you will not make it and we will not meet tomorrow!"

"Listen, we will meet tomorrow, and did I, even just for once, ever break my promises? I know more than you about this and what will happen next, so I am sure that I will not get killed. Now quick, leave!"

_What a big lie!_

Cold sweat trickled down Light's temple as apprehension flooded him. His ego forced him to stay with L. He preferred die rather than run and leave his rival, who stayed here to _protect _him. If L died, the reason why L was willing to die protecting him... would haunt him forever. L sacrificed himself for him, how could Light become a God because of the bastard like him? This was the most mortifying thing for him!

_BAM! BAM!_

No... No_!_

"No. I'll stay here, Ryuzaki. We can face him together! I won't leave you to face him alone! I am not a coward who leaves my friends to save my life in the situation like this!"

"Yagami! You do not have a right to intervene in my business and whatever will happen to me! This is not a problem about whether you are a coward or not if you run and leave me behind!" That wasn't the flat tone which Light heard every day. For the first time he caught anger in L's voice. How did that pale, commonly stoic face look like now?

"Yagami!"

_BAM! BAM! BAM!_

They stared at each other. Light saw his face mirror within the depths of L's dark eyes. This time his reflection didn't fade away, not getting stronger either. The dark eyes flashed, strengthening his pale reflection. And-

Light gasped, the older man grabbed his elbow and pulled him backward. Light parried, almost pushed L roughly in return. Ignoring the surprised look from his rival behind him, who got frantic and grab the side of his black shirt, Light took a step forward to the door,

"Yaga-"

"YOU FUCKING BASTARD OUT THERE! IF YOU DARE, COME AND FACE US BOTH!"

That's a yell, a curse, Light could shout from his mouth. He stood in a line with his rival. He could feel his head spinning. This was wrong. His body couldn't react as he wanted. He should have ran by now. He had to get out from this place. But no... He just couldn't...

"Why?" L demanded in a scratchy whisper, his voice weary, there was a regretful tone in it.

He didn't want to be in debt with a man he would kill. That was the answer.

Light closed his eyes, hands trembling at both sides. "Sorry, Ryuzaki. But I can't... Sorry."

From the corner of his eyes, L's face tightened, his eyes widened and his mouth opened a little. Sweat was pouring down his forehead. But Light could see the unruffled mask, which had been often disguised L's face, was unable to cover up his shock. It looked similar as when the detective screamed, when he noted the existence of shinigami. But this time was different.

Biting his lips, Light turned to L frantically. He locked his eyes on the other man's face, which glimmered with hidden emotion.

_BAM! BAM! BAM!_

As fast as L's eyes closed, they suddenly opened again, at one glance, if someone saw L right now, they might tell L's expression had turned to be normal again. But in Light's eyes; he saw a deep expression, thoughtful, very serious in there.

"All right."

Within a split second, L lifted the gun in the air. Before Light knew what L's intention was, the raven-haired man had shot the door.

_Bang Bang Bang!_

Three shots, rapid and unexpected. Three holes at the door. One was at the lower right, one at the lower left, and one was at the middle up. Three of them created a triangle.

Simultaneously, the loud rumble stopped, the killer paused from pounding the door.

Silence.

"D-did he get hit?" whispered Light, unable to hold his mind.

"..."

L, still holding his gun straight to the front, geared up. Light instinctively held a defensive position. His heartbeat throbbed in his ears, and blood rushed through his veins alarmed every part of him. He kept his balance by stepping his foot back and slightly turning.

"COME ON! GET ME IF YOU CAN!" L suddenly screamed, his voice unnaturally high.

Awareness struck Light at last. It was the reason why L suddenly raised his voice several octaves. The holes he made in that door, previously, Light thought L wasn't smart enough to lock the target. But when he heard L's voice, he realized, it seemed the detective had purposely shot the wrong spots, and spoke out loud. Perhaps he intended to tell the guy outside about the situation inside.

But why? Why did L announce his existence here with someone else - with Light here? Was it to discourage the assailant who was alone?

Silence. Still quiet outside.

"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? I AM HERE, RIGHT HERE!" L screamed again.

Still silence.

A few minutes in the dreadfulness, during which they stared into the door without the movement of a limb. Light heard the heavy and slow footsteps. It was heading away from the door. The footsteps went further and further until it was swallowed by the darkness of the corridor, leaving them in silence.

_W-why?_

L put down his gun when Light breathed out in relief.

"Why did he-"

Light's words stopped there. A hard kick landed on his jaw.

Light fell back, and rolled on the ground. He groaned, shock and fear painted across his face. L was towering above him. His porcelain face was a doll to Light's eyes, emotionless, seemingly with no soul in it. Light held himself from swallowing his saliva.

"Do you know what mistake you just did, Yagami Raito?" L's voice was heavier, even colder.

L was angry.

Light requited L's glare with the same fierceness. Wiping the blood off his lips, he managed to smirk and struck back with a daring gesture. "I know."

"And_ what exactly do you think you know_, Yagami?"

The cold statement, which came out from a man he always considered as an equal, successfully made Light burn in anger.

"I _know_ everything that you think I don't know," Light parried, refusing to back down, though the facts were opposite. "I know that he just left us both – I mean, _left you_ – because _I _am here, right?"

His smirk widened when L watched him with complete awareness.

Suddenly, L moved forward, it seemed that he wanted to fight Light and ordered him to stay back. Realizing that, Light fastened his feet so he didn't move even an inch from his standing place, until they're only one meter apart.

The dark, ebony hair fell down and curtained one of L's eyes, concealing tempestuousness within his face. The strains looked wet by sweat, creating the image of a snake playing on L's cheeks. The detective looked like someone who had just done... a wrestle... in his eyes. Light couldn't stop the pulse in his temple when he thought about that.

L shook his head. "_Hm. _And that was all you know. Apart from that, you know nothing, even not a quarter of it." The way L spoke like he was speaking to himself. "And you were acting like the one who knows everything and the most important man here, Yagami."

It was as if it had struck Light on his head with a steel gauntlet.

"You may say whatever you like, Ryuzaki. No matter what it is, I refuse to go and leave you here. Am I wrong if choosing to stay with you, my friend, who is in danger?"

"Wrong," L spat and unquestionably, causing Light to frown deeply. L raised his face, looking straight at him. "I thought of Yagami-kun as a clever, bright individual, but a moment ago, I realise that I was wrong in estimating him."

Light felt his chest pierced by thousands of needles. He and L were equivalent rivals. But he-

"In fact you know nothing. You don't know who did this, what is happening here, and you put your self as if you are in a real danger and almost lost your own life without thinking about it," L said coldly, averting his gaze from Light. "I know Yagami-kun is a youth still in puberty, yearning for adrenaline, and has strong desire to discover within his blood veins, although I myself always think that he is more than just an eighteen years teenager, that he has wisdom of adult." L's eyes darted back at him again, cold and piercing. "But tonight you have shown me that I was wrong, Yagami. You are not more than just a common undergraduate student, who possesses a greater mind than common students but still have a youth's low and childish mentality-"

Light threw a punch to hit that sickening pale face, but L dodged it with a quick move, and caught Light's fist. Surprised, Light held his feet, he didn't believe the detective had much power left. With a sudden move, L released his hand when the teen intended to ward off. Light staggered backward. They glared at each other.

"I am the one who should feel sorry about you, Ryuzaki!" Light hissed, trying to regain some control. "It is you who couldn't choose the wrong side and the right side! In a situation like this it's not right time to argue on this pathetic, useless issue!"

L's dark eyes fought Light's piercing glare. Calculations flashed through his mind.

"Now."

"What?"

"Now, Yagami-kun. Hurry, get out of this place. The chance will never come twice," L ordered, his voice low and throaty. "Before he comes back here."

Light was correct, 'before he comes back' L said. The killer didn't break through because he realized the existence of Light here, and probably he would return if Light left the building. But it was strange, back then, Light thought the killer knew they were here because of his loud yells. But if the killer didn't want to get near Light, then why would he come and break through the door, if he already knew that Light was inside? And why did he just leave them like that? And the detective's strange actions filled Light's mind with questions.

"I refuse, Ryuzaki. Whatever will happen, I will stay," Light said boldly, "based on what you just said, there is a possibility the attacker will come back here again when you are alone, right? Then why you-"

L frowned. "Whatever may happen to me is not your business. What do you want exactly?"

_**Death Note**_. Death Note was still inside this building. Light wouldn't get out if he didn't take the notebook with him. That's why. And the thought made him relieved, more than anything.

"I only wish that _both of us_ can get out of here," Light lied, staring straightly at his peer**.** This was a technique that never failed to trick everyone.

On the other hand, Light forgot that he was facing L.

"Oh... I understand now..." The cold voice came out from those lips struck Light. A bad feeling started to fill his chest. This was a voice L used when he began to sing cynically. "There is something... something that was left here and you wish to take it before you leave, yes?"

_Holy crap._

Whatever L meant by 'something', Light could speculate where the aim of this conversation was. And he really, truly didn't like a blistering state of affairs like this.

"What is it now, Ryuzaki? Still not satisfied of suspecting me as Kira even in time like this?" The words had burst out of his mouth before he could stop it, and Light was incapable of pulling them back. Deep within his heart, he cursed himself for this ill-equipped conduct.

"Kira? Did I mention something about suspecting you as Kira? I was saying that perhaps there was something left here. _Something _you had known very well that it was here, in this building and under my watch. Something that compelled you to act as if you want to venture your life and be a good male protagonist in front of your opponent, _Kira-kun_."

"Stop it, Ryuzaki. Do you know what kind of situation that we are in right now? Rather than speaking about that, it would much better if we head out right now."

"It is not me that must leave. It is you."

Light couldn't believe it. If he knew it would turn out like this he'd better left this damned man and let that mysterious, distorted psychopath or whoever his name could successfully slash away this pathetic, skittish body at the end for him!

"If only I knew it would turn out like this, then I am sorry that I didn't leave you!"

"Good, do it. Do it now, _Kira_."

"Fine, _L_!" Light exclaimed, turning away and walking to the vent. Without looking back, he stepped on the closet, looking up at the vent. He stretched his hands to climb up**-**

He froze.

"..."

"Yagami-kun?"

The auburn took a deep breath before replying the question. "Blocked."

"What?"

Light shook his head. Obviously, he couldn't explain what he was seeing up there. "I don't know. It was blocked, L. Blocked."

L came closer, gazing up to see what was happening. From up here, Light saw L's forehead wrinkle, eyes narrow and his teeth chatter.

"..._him...!"_

Light frowned when he heard the hiss from under his feet. L pulled something from his pocket. An electronic mini-notebook. He opened, then typed fast on the small keyboard. Light was unable to see what was shown by the monitor.

"Something wrong?" A simple question.

L simply answered, "Yes."

Light jumped from the closet, and he could see what was in the monitor. It looked like a blueprint, a diagram of water pipes, or more exactly, a map. Light knew it was a diagram showing this 'inner' building. It consisted of secret paths or vent holes or kinds like that. In almost every spot there was a red light blinking, only a few were clean.

Red. The color of erroneousness.

"It seems that all routes are blocked perfectly," Light deduced.

A difficult expression etched on L's porcelain face, he scanned the map with his eyes. All Light could see was every single path to the outside blocked by a red 'X'. He noticed, the killer wasn't just any person. He was able to hack the latest improvement of the world's greatest detective's security system. This was clearly not just a simple case.

"How could you get in here?" asked L.

Light raised his eyebrow in petulant manner. "From the main gate."

"How was that possible?" asked L again, his tone half surprised and half astonished – which seemed was hidden well enough so it didn't draw attention. L's eyes were locking on the mini-notebook, but Light knew L watching him from the corner of his eye.

"_How was that possible?"_ Light mimicked L's voice. "I am the one who should be asking that. I just came inside without any problem; there was no obstacle at all-"

Suddenly, he stopped speaking. The spine-chilling feeling began to shake him again.

"Is that... _Should it be..._?" Light asked breathlessly, his eyes gleamed and now focused on his rival's cold face.

L, as usual, always caught the meaning of Light's question without further explanation."_True_. It is true that no one could enter this building. Every path had been closed since midday."

_Closed since midday!_

Light snorted impatiently. That's why his father and the other cops couldn't enter the building. L was hiding the biggest secret about the identity of the killer, and the motives behind the assault of this building. But the most important matter now was he... Light Yagami. He was someone who shouldn't be involved, and now... what could he do?

"Then why did I_...?"_

_How could i get in here?_

A chill ran down his spine. Light smelled something fishy.

As if he could read Light's mind – and that wasn't new for both of them, L shook his head. The contradiction and suspicion grew stronger inside Light's chest. L's dull expression only made him felt more uncomfortable.

Both of the man stayed silent. Light knew that L wouldn't answer this ambiguity forever.

"You know, I think there is a little mistake and coincidence that happened here. And because of that I could enter this building." Light said from deep in his throat, then he regretted after saying it. Light knew it was only a pretext.

Another moment of silence.

Light remembered when he entered the building, the electronic door that simply opened, the elevator and the hidden cameras that were dead but still working in the 18th floor, and the door unlocked by itself. The killer might not be as great as he imagined a while ago; he did some fatal faults: letting the main gate open. But the killer wasn't dumb either. The way he hacked L's security system was perfect. So if there was someone that could enter this building with all the doors opened, _as if intentionally welcoming that person to enter this building..._then it meant... Light was-

Light shook his head to get rid of that terrible thought.

L's lips opened to take in his thumb again, the sign that he was thinking, his face calm.

Light kept staring at L absently. This time, he waited faithfully, letting L's intuition led the way. He hated to say this, but he didn't have any choice rather than putting his life on L's hand.

"Come," L said. The detective walked toward the door, unlocked the key, and opened it without forewarning. Trying to get rid of the darkness inside, L pulled out his flashlight as if he pulled out a gun.

Light watched over him. L glanced at every corner with his eyes twinkling in the dark. He turned his face to see the dark corridor that went straight forward, as if he had the ability to see through the wall. L stepped outside the toilet. He threw one short glance to him, a sign for Light to follow him.

It took some times for Light to realize, and he ran after L.

Nevertheless, the word 'Come' itself was a persuasive sentence, an invitation. Not a sentence like before when L tried to dump Light from this place So did Light feel happy with this kind of situation, in which L lured him to participate in the case? He didn't want to admit, but when he heard those words, he felt a strange surge sweeping him. It was a contrast reaction from that 'dumped out' statement before.

L gave a positive sign to take him, and Light Yagami wasn't a man that would refuse an invitation – especially when it came from his biggest rival. Turning tail and running home as fast as possible to his nest like a scaredy-cat was strikingly implausible; Light wasn't a coward.

Unfortunately, Light didn't notice the immense amount of doubt in the 'come' word which was said by the detective.

OOO

Light kept running until they stopped at the junction to the next corridor.

L did a quiet move, leaning against the wall, he glanced cautiously to the dark corridor.

Light couldn't help complimenting L's professional moves; L had the ability to walk without producing any sound, exactly like a real spy. He surely forgot that L was the boss of those spies. He possessed an excellent skill that matched seven spies at once. Although he rarely saw L in action, he knew that this man was trained well. Shooting. Hacking. Riding a helicopter. Infiltrating (maybe). Many things Light had never seen before.

"..."

Outside, Light's face calm as ever. Inside was different. His heart was hammering. Pathetic, he could only put his life in his rival's hand now. Standing behind L, Light cursed himself who felt relieved when he met with the man that only uttered a simple sorry, after he almost made a hole in his head. Light had a mix feeling about all this.

L raised his gun, then threw a quick glance at him. Light read a 'safe' from his eyes. He nodded and they moved fast immediately.

Light followed L through the corridor. It was full of corpses laid in the way, like the corridor from before. Light pretended he didn't notice at all.

Observing L's discretion or a moment, Light decided to speak it out loud: "You know, I think we won't be attacked. So, acting very wary like that would be futile."

Light expected L would stay silent, but L didn't want to lose the beat. "Cautiousness is important in every situation, Yagami-kun. No matter what the weather forecast told it would be a clear weather tonight or not, we should have brought the umbrella if we want to go out."

_Paranoid, L._

Although Light scolded L inside, he couldn't deny the cautiousness was number one wherever they walked. However, Light said that to see L's reaction, for he knew the detective was hiding something behind all this. For God's sake, Light wanted L to speak about it. Something. Anything.

Light cleared the lump out of his throat so he could make his voice hard like he wanted it. "But I'm sure as long as I stay beside you, he wouldn't attack us, since it was you that he is looking for. Perhaps he does not have any concern with the others." For a moment Light saw once again the bite mark in L's neck and frowned. "Whatever it is, as long as I am here, I am sure that he won't attack us. He will wait until you are alone without me. That is all which I can assume."

L bit his thumb softly; his hair fell down out of style hiding one of his eyes. "Maybe yes, maybe no. We do not have strong evidence to state whether it is right or not, you only speak base on your assumptions."

"Ryuzaki, you do know by yourself what had happened in the toilet just now. Why did he not break through the door but instead left his preys – us – which were already cornered in front of his eyes? As I had told you before, it seems that he only search for you and wants to catch you alone with no one by your side. That is why he left us in the toilet, because he wants me to leave this place, and after you are alone, he would come again to get you."

"Once again that was just an analysis based on weak assumptions in the field. I cannot resolve whether it was wrong or right."

"Ha! This is the first time I hear that from your mouth, _L. _The one that always says that every of his analysis is right."

"I said that an analysis is a truth if it is combined with facts and enough evidences. I didn't say that every analysis is always accurate," replied L in one short breath. "Besides, the analysis you made just now refers to weak assumptions and small clues from your intuition and is not supported by facts and evidences. I couldn't say it is the right analysis."

"Then you should pull back all your suspicion over me as Kira then. Even though all your clues are pointing at me, you still do not have any strong fact or absolute evidence," Light said in a mocking tone.

"That is right, Raito-kun, I do not have any strong evidence in _your _case," L murmured darkly, lowering his voice."But so far I am always right, and I am sure that I am one hundred percent correct."

"Okay, I give up," Light said, his voice a complete cynical.

The pasty detective ignored him and turned around. "Besides, is talking about Kira case our top priority now? You must know when and where the right time to speak, Yagami-kun."

Light Yagami's score compared to L = 1:1

Light was keen to attack again, but L was right. This wasn't the time for them to argue, he knew it would never end if he argue with his rival now.

"But considering all the fact based on your own weak assumptions, your analysis is quite contradicting, Yagami-kun," L added after a brief pause.

_Look, he ended, and now he starts it again._

L continued, "If he wants Yagami-kun to get out of here and leave me, why did he block all the way out?"

_Yes, he got the point._

Actually, Light had already thought about that abnormality, and that's the point that confused him. The killer was confusing. What did he want? He had already found them, doing big actions to destroy the toilet's door, and then he left the prey as if they're nothing to him.

Could it be the killer... had changed his mind in the middle of his work, and chose to kill Light also – that he considered as an annoying bug – with L? But if he didn't wish Light to be here, why did he intentionally open the doors for Light to enter the building? Which should be perfectly blocked from the outside. A trap? Something's fishy like a carcass could be faintly smelled here. That was the thing that made him felt uncomfortable about all this.

The assault on him in the emergency stairs probably was a coincidence. But the killer had more that just the chance to kill Light with that knife lifted high in the air. A thousand questions, and a thousand answers that would never come. Wait, the reason why the killer left Light on the stairs that time...because they heard a screa-

"Ryuzaki!"

L turned around, a questioning hue in his eyes.

"Ryuzaki, besides you and I, is there another person in this building? I mean, beside you, me and the killer," Light asked quickly.

Biting his thumb again, L narrowed his eyes. He looked like trying to recall, no, Light knew L was guessing and worrying about something else.

The raven blinked and then shifted to Light again, looking at him with a glance full of mysteries. "And what was exactly that you've heard?"

It was enough to make Light's heart skip. L was able to catch the meaning of his question without asking, so Light spoke the core idea of his question: "Was that you the one who screamed recently?"

Light saw those round eyes widened a little. L raised his eyebrows as he realized something's wrong. Light knew what answer that L's would give.

"No," L answered quickly, his face tightened. Light knew he didn't have to explain anything, the detective had already known and shared the same uneasiness with him.

"A few minutes before we met here, where were you? Were you on the ground floor?" Light asked. He relaxed his hands, but his chest tightened.

L shook his head. "No, I was already here at that time."

"All right. Did you hear someone scream? Just a few moments before we met at the corridor?"

L's piercing glance almost made Light's throat tighten, his breathing labored.

"Yes, from the lower floor."

"From the 13th floor," Light added, half asked, and half tried to reassuring the statement.

"Yes, I didn't know exactly but it did come from the lower ground. Was that-"

"No. _It wasn't me, _Ryuzaki."

Both of them silent, but they glanced at each other fiercely, filling the cautious atmosphere until the very top of it.

"... If that wasn't you, and wasn't me... then..."

..._Then who_?

"Where were you at that time?" L asked him this time.

"At the emergency stairs, exactly when that scream came I was with that man."

The reaction in L's face was surprising, the detective's eyes slowly widened. "Then? What did _he..._"

L stopped asking at that point. Damn. Light wished he could know who was the 'he' that L was speaking about. What if he could finally find out something about the killer? Perhaps he could threaten L somehow.

"He left me after that. - _Okay, he let go of me and I don't want to think about the reason -_ And it seemed he went to the source of that scream. To the lower floor – somewhere in the 13th floor, I think."

L's face turned stern again, the face that Light could see only in special moments. For example, when L ordered his subordinates to act in urgent situations, and that was the same face that he had seen a few times tonight. L, like himself, must have realized the jeopardy they faced right now.

Biting his thumb, L rolled his eyes to the ceilings. Probably L was thinking what steps they should take after this to get rid of Light; to prevent him from knowing what was going on here.

Light failed to control himself not to heave a frustrated moan, one hand grabbing his own hair. His eyes followed the raven's, staring at the ceiling, as if trying to find the answer that was floating in the air, but of course, there was nothing up there but darkness.

One riddle had not been solved yet, and another riddle came. This was too confusing. If he analyzed on how the killer's reaction that time, who grumbled irritably when he heard that scream, and then left Light, he bet the person – who was screaming – was an unlucky person and one of the luckiest people that were _able_ to enter this building like him.

Maybe that unlucky person went upstairs, and figured out something on the 13th floor that made him scream in fear. And the killer, who seemingly didn't like to have another _annoying_ _rat_ came into this building, chose to beat that guy rather than Light.

But wasn't Light also one of the _annoying rats_? Why did he not finish him at that time? He just had to stab it, for God's sake, only one inch in front of his left chest. So why did the killer let one rat alive and went after another rat? Why did he ignore the one who was standing right in front of his eyes?

Who's that unlucky person? Light thought he recognized the voice, but he couldn't detect whose it was clearly. Probably he wasn't one of the men L sent to this building (if there were, Light still didn't know the identity of those corpses). Or probably he was one of the task force members... impossible.

Whoever this unlucky person was, most probably he wouldn't survive...by now...

But knowing there was someone who was also able to enter this building, made Light feel relieved. The killer wasn't as professional as he imagined. And Light's coming to the building probably just a coincidence, and the same case happened with the _unlucky rat_ who had screamed down there. This was the only thing that made him feel relieved.

But everything was still unclear.

As Light thought about everything while biting his lower lip, he didn't realize that L's gaze was on him, carefully watching him from the corner of his eye.

"Do not think too much about it, Yagami-kun."

The soft voice struck him out of his imagination. Even for thousands of times, Light would never admit that L had the power to read the mind... _his _mind. L's eyes, as black and blank as a shark's, were zeroing on him.

"No," Light answered, trusting himself not to sound excessively anxious. But as an afterthought, he decided to change his words, "Yes, indeed. I do feel anxious about what is happening here. But it is okay, if I am not allowed to know, that is fine with me."

"Yes, I'm terribly sorry, Raito-kun."

The answer coming out from L was disappointing. Light couldn't hide his annoyance that were etched visibly on his face. The detective seemed to have caught his expression with cautio-

"What- Ryuzaki?"

L turned around, showing his profile to him without saying anything. The white face covered by the darkness, only L's lips could be seen, and Light felt regret because it wasn't the lips he wished to see, but L's eyes. The dark and deep eyes were the ones he wanted to see now, because he trusted L's eyes more than his mouth.

But having business with the detective who loved to use masks on his mouth, face and even on his eyes (which we always considered wouldn't tell a lie), was a difficult thing to do. But was unable to think when his ears clearly caught the unbelievable statement from L's lips.

"I will protect you."

"What?" Light asked again.

"_I will protect you, Raito-kun._ No matter what will happen, as long as you stay near me. I will not let _him_ harm you." The sentence sounded assuring, even echoed in the silence, and those lips once again opened with an assertive gesture. "I promise."

Light's eyes widened, he didn't believe it. But his heart, who had been hammering on his chest, unwillingly trusted in L's promise, beyond his logic.

Quickly, Light shook his head, escaping from drowning silence between them. He didn't know how to reply that statement. He didn't understand what kind of strange feeling that burned within his chest. This kind of crammed feeling again. It felt as if there were a lot heavy weights being put onto him.

The selfish L, the L who cared only to himself, and did good only for his own purpose- What kind of strange feeling that emerged when he heard those words? Was that pity? Catharsis? Or the feeling of dejection, ashamed and low in front of his rival who offered a protection for him?

Between his deliberation, Light saw L's eyes. For the third time tonight – his face mirrored within L's midnight orbs. This time it didn't fade away, it even grew stronger every second he saw his own reflection. As if L was trying to accept his existence there. Light was wondering; did L also find his face reflected in the depths of Light's amber eyes? Were they-

"Yagami-kun?"

L's voice woke him up, the detective tilted his head a little. Light realized he had made the other man uncomfortable with uncertainty. And so did he.

Light's expression softened. "Thank you," he muttered under his breath. "But it wasn't necessary for me. I can take care of myself." And with that, he broke the eye-contact.

_I, Light Yagami, under L's protection?_

_Never._

L said that because he wanted to protect himself, or to cover the identity of the killer, and the mystery that happened in the building. There must be something bigger than Light had seen. That was the reason L forced him to leave the building; it wasn't only for his safety. But, of course, it was because L didn't like another person interfering, or acknowledging something. Surely, the killer wasn't just a common killer, and he obviously had a relationship with L.

L, for sure, had so many enemies out there. Probably the killer wished for something that Light would never have expected... something he never imagined before.

This thought made him shiver, for without realizing it, Light started rubbing the wounds on his neck again, checking how much damage he got if compared with L's.

"No matter happens, as long as I am close to you I will assure your safety. That's all," L declared his promise again, and turned away from Light.

_Okay, as long as he stands near me... it just __**as long as he is near**__ me. Fair enough, L._

But Light had no choice but putting his life in his rival's hand.

They started running through the cold wind in the black corridor. Until L stopped in front of a well-known metallic door: Investigation room. The raven came inside and Light followed.

The room was big, wide and he already got used to its condition. The sweet metallic scent, the smell of computer plastic wraps and new electronic stuffs which seemingly just came out of the factory. They still had its new scent, although it had been used and touched by their hands everyday.

L took his electronic notebook and started typing something. Light turned around, watching his surroundings with his pupils contracted in the darkness. He wanted to see the metallic ceilings but what he saw now was a black color. The air was thick and sizzling.

"Done." L said.

Suddenly a harsh, loud sound came from every corner of the ceiling. L's calm face dimmed in front of the bright LCD monitor. In the next second, a bright, white radiance made Light's eyes shed tears. He shut his eyes, hand flew up to cover his face from the sudden brightness.

All lamps in the room lit up, Light slowly opened his eyes. L marched toward a big computer screen. Turning on the laptop on the table, he started typing fast.

Light didn't have anything else to do, so he approached L. His eyes felt sting after staying too long in the darkness.

L seemed trying to hack back his security system. Those long fingers were typing faster, so fast Light was almost unable to follow. The tension filled the atmosphere made an invisible wall separated both of them. Light, who apparently had been hypnotized by L's unusual face, was forced to stay silent. He watched L, who was punching the buttons in keyboard. The distinctive, ridiculous typing style. But this was L, everything about him was ridiculous.

Rolling his eyes around, Light decided to look at his surroundings rather than watching-

"...!"

A fast _tap tap tap_ sound echoed in the room, and in the next second Light gasped. He looked at the metallic silver ceiling above his head, then to the floor under his feet, and to the right side, then left, up, down, front, back, every direction. Now everything in the room changed color and shape, creating a shape like a hologram, a projector. The lights faded out, and the holograms started to show its images. A single 'L' word written in the old English typeface with a white background shone around it.

The typing sound stopped. The investigation room had changed into a three-dimensional hologram studio. Light turned to L, and the man was looking back at him, no, he was looking at something behind Light.

Light spun around. A black laptop on the top of a little foundation came out from an opening, which had a diameter about 1 m, on the floor. L dragged his feet towards the central laptop in the middle. He started typing again.

It seemed their investigation room was specially designed as a secret control room, which could be used in emergency conditions. Light didn't know how many secret rooms this building has, but there was nothing about L's high-tech devices he would be astonished about.

Turning around, Light saw white monitors with an alphabet 'L' in there and there. But then, slowly, the alphabet faded away. It seemed there were red spots covering the word's outline. The black color started to grind the white ones. Light didn't know what was happening, until, finally, the white lights-

The loud sirene was thunderous in his ears. The white bright room turned to dark red.

Panicked, Light spun around to see L. The detective's eyes were focused on the central laptop, he started to type something there, but it was completely futile. The LCD monitor started to black out, the same thing applied with other monitors surrounding them. Now they had turned to be totally black, and the 'L' words-

"Ryuzaki!"

Light's panic call was muted by the loud serene. L was still busy typing faster and faster racing with someone greater hacking his great security system. But this was a useless race. L was only running in place, not going anywhere.

The black word of 'L' on the monitors around him had turned to bright red. The specific shape from the black word, which was written using Old English type, was glowing. But there was something different.

Light saw a big number '3' now emerged from red spots after 'L' word.

Yes, number '3', and that number now merged with the 'L' word.

A gasp slipped from Light's lips when he became conscious what that meant.

A new word emerged after the word 'L'. It was 'L' word plus number '3'. Just like number '13' at the first glance, but now it was clear that this was a new word.

And that was the word-

'_YOU'VE BEEN HACKED. YOU'VE BEEN HACKED. YOU'VE BEEN HACKED...'_

"!"

'_YOU'VE BEEN HACKED. YOU'VE BEEN HACKED. YOU'VE BEEN HACKED. YOU'VE BEEN HACKED. YOU'VE BEEN HACKED. YOU'VE BEEN HACKED. YOU'VE BEEN HACKED. YOU'VE BEEN HACKED. YOU'VE BEEN HACKED...'_

"_Ryuzaki!"_ Light's voice was purely filled with panic, but the detective was unmoving. Probably L couldn't hear Light's cries, the machines sound which heard like the chipmunks sound 'YOU'VE BEEN HACKED' echoed in the air. Too loud, it hurt the ears with its high decibel. The room turned to be a claustrophobic space.

'_YOU'VE BEEN HACKED, __**L**__! YOU'VE BEEN HACKED. HEHN HEHN HEHN... YOU'VE BEEN HACKED, __**L**__...! YOU'VE BEEN HA-'_

The voice of the machine itself...

'_YOU'VE BEEN HACKED...__** L**__! YOU'VE BEEN HACKED __**LAWLIPOP**__! KYAHAHAHAHAHAHA!'_

...sounded like mocking. Those robotic laughter wasn't produced by machine, there was someone holding the microphone behind all this. The sounds reminded Light to cartoon movies for children, but this-

'-_BEEN HACKED. HEHN HEHN HEHN... YOU'VE BEEN HACKED, __**L**__...! YOU'VE BEEN HA-'_

The chipmunk sounds which were used to be funny and innocent, now radiated a dark smell behind its all, the smell that came from those mysterious lips behind the screen.

The black monitors which was contrast with the white color, and 'L' word which turned red and was added with a number '3' merged into another word... all this was...

It was the color of blood.

What exactly does the killer want?

**BANG!**

'_YOU'VE BEEN HACKED. YOU'VE BEEN HACKED. YOU'VE BEEN HACKED-_

BANG! BANG! BANG!

And more bangs were produced by L's gun echoed in the air. Light saw the light from iron bullet shot by the detective to every direction where the chipmunks were coming.

'_HEHN HEHN HEHN...YOU'VE BEEN HACKED... __**L**__, YOU'VE BEEN HACKED. YOU'VE- __**LAWLIPOP**__'_

BANG!

One monitor broke, mixed voices from the speaker gone. But there were still others speakers. So many speakers.

'_YOU'VE BEEN HACKED! YOU'VE BEEN HACKED, __**LAWLIPOP**__. YOU'VE BEEN HACKED...'_

BANG! BANG! BANG! One by one, monitors and laptops on the table broke by the shots. Light just stared in horror. He couldn't believe the man who was shooting every corner of the room was the same person he knew.

_Click Click_. L reloaded his pistol.

BANG! BANG! BANG! Again and again. Over and over again.

_BANG!_ At last, aimed to the central laptop and a little explosion occurred next. The components of the high-tech machine crashed, scattered around the black floor. Coldly, L stepped on them, crushed the things into small chunks.

"R-Ryuza-"

Light held his tongue. He couldn't believe what he saw.

_L was angry._

A few seconds later, the room returned to normal. The broken hologram monitor disappeared, and the metallic wall replaced them. The wall now filled with black holes on it. A few damaged cables dangled pathetically from one or two holes, evidence of the broken machine behind that thick wall. The white light dimmed and blinked around them, the room seemed like a battleground.

L lowered his face, black hair curtained half of his face. Light couldn't see his expression. His ears still ringing, those chipmunk sounds, and as if it wasn't enough, still there was a loud sound of gunshots. His eyes were sting from the black color, then white, then red, and then black and white together.

Black, white, red.

But what Light was seeing right now was a color that gave a cold sense: The icy blue.

L's faded dark blue jeans in the dimness within the room, and the detective's face colored dim blue. The dark hair turned darker, falling in front of his face in disarray. Light couldn't see whether L's eyes were closed or not, and L's heavy chest wasn't able to synchronize to his seemingly controlled breathing.

Once again, all he could see was the icy blue color.

Light's eyes narrowed a bit. L's hands were balled to a fist tightly down there.

"...Ryuzaki."

No reply.

Light turned around. If he was in the detective's position right now, probably he would shoot Light Yagami who was standing there, who watched him when he was abashed by someone else, who knew something that he probably never wished it would surface.

Oh, come on.

L was just a normal human.

Light just realized it tonight. Before this, he always thought L as an abstract. A doll. A robot.

But L didn't shoot him, he just stood silent. It made Light feel uncomfortable. What did he have to do with a living man who he always saw as an emotionless creature, now he was frozen there, seemed to have no soul with only heavy breathing coming out from his lips-

"Who's there!" Light shouted in surprise. In a split second, he moved his flashlight and spotted to the source of the thud sound.

But Light didn't regret shouting for many reasons. First, L didn't stop him. And second, L, who froze ever since that moment, now moving his head and staring to the same direction that Light was spotting.

Just a while ago, Light heard a sound that obviously wasn't L's voice, not the door's sound, or a gun, or thunder, or sirene, or footsteps, or a yell or any other sounds that he had heard with his ears tonight. Rather, it was a soft sound, but sounded too loud in this silent room.

It was a soft 'tuck' sound. A peaceful sound. It came from somewhere in front of the stairs to the second story in this room.

Light didn't have to repeat the word 'who's there', for L suddenly ran to the source of the peaceful sound. Light followed him, only his defeaning heartbeat and cold sweat were his main supply. Although the other man promised to protect him, Light couldn't just simply entrust his life to someone else. His life was his and his own business. It would be impossible for L to protect him.

They soon arrived at the place they suspected: the source of the sound. In front of the staircase, just a few meters from the lounge and its table. L stopped there, and so did Light. Both still directed their flashlights to the empty space. L directed his flashlight, tracing the stairs one by one, and ended at the last stair to the dark second story. But there was nothing there. It was futile trying to see something in a dead angle like this.

A few moments ago, Light didn't see anything that should be here. Lamps were dim and were not able to light up the room, but it wasn't totally dark. But now, with his eyes which started to get used to the dark, he should be able to see anything suspicious.

Light saw something.

A little thing, it wasn't more than 20 cm long was laying in front of the last staircase. His eyes widened as he noticed what kind of thing that laid peacefully on that silver-metallic floor. For a while, he forgot where that thing came from.

In a split second before Light could realize, L had grabbed the thing. He turned away from Light, as if he didn't want to show the mysterious thing to him.

But that was fine; Light had seen it clearly even though only at a glance. It was because Light is a Japanese. Although the thing wasn't commonly brought by people when they're traveling; for example hand phone or wallet, or a key lace and bag accessories, but Light still could recognize what it was.

_Wara Ningyo_, a Japanese Voodoo doll.

L brought the voodoo doll to his lips. He put the top of the doll's head to his nose, probably to sniff the straw puppet. L inhaled deeply, as if he was trying to absorb its smell.

"_He was..._" L whispered, his voice deeper – and even darker – than any other voice Light ever heard before.

"From where-"

As if there was someone replied to Light's question, they heard a noise up there, on the second story.

"Ryuzaki!"

"Wait here," L replied quickly and ran upstairs into total darkness. He brought the wara ningyo with him, the handgun was in his grip. Oddly enough, L didn't hold something that should be in his hand: the flashlight. That hunched shape faded in the darkness.

"...?"

Light gasped, he frantically directed his flashlight to the end of the room, this time to the metallic door. He swore that he just saw something white in there.

"Who's there!" Light's voice sounded more frightened than anything. He was alone. He was alone down here. Could it be the killer were more than one people?

_W-wait...isn't that...?_

Footsteps from above. Reflexively, Light directed his flashlight upstairs, and saw the detective's silhouette climb down. L's face was unseen, covered by a dark shadow of his messy hair.

"Ryuzaki? Wha-"

"Nothing," L spat. "There's nothing up there."

Light frowned, he didn't know what made him sure that L lied to him.

"Come," whispered L shortly before he, without delay, marched his feet to the door.

Light followed him in silence.

Before he went out of that room, there was only one thing Light saw half-consciously: the Wara Ningyo doll that L grabbed tightly when he ran upstairs, now had vanished from the detective's hand.

Light decided not to think about it when they met face to face again with the fishy, dark corridor.

OOO

**December 12th, 2004**

Whammy House

Winchester, England

Mello couldn't see Roger's face. His face lowered, his chin was on his hand.

"L is dead."

That was the only sentence that came out from his old mouth, after both of them held their breath a few moments.

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**TBC**


	6. Chapter 6

**So here is the update. Sorry for the long wait.**

**I dedicated this chapter to ****NX-Loveless-XN**** (thank you so much for your support!)**

**Someone asked me about the pairing, well, it's going to be B-L-Light or something like that, but it will not be the main concern of the story.**

**Sorry for the bad English anyway. And thank you for those wonderful reviews from the previous chapters, *bows down* I hope I can reply them soon.**

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_Chapter three_

_**SOS**_

"_The supreme function of reason is to show man that some things are __**beyond**__ reason__**."**_

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"_If only I could see the death of the world."_

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They had been running along the dark corridor.

Along the way, Light couldn't stop looking at L's back. Sometimes, he slowed down to catch his breath, letting L run in front of him. But he would never ask L to wait for him; he'd rather sleep with a corpse in L's bathroom than saying that.

Running while examining the floor beneath him, Light saw blood stains, drops here and there. He turned to see L, the other man was running with face looking downwards at his chest or his feet. He couldn't see L's face clearly, but one thing he could capture with the help of the flashlight, that L was biting his lips.

Light decided to ignore it.

L slowed his run every time they turned to run into a crossroad, as if calculating which direction to take.

On the next turn, the pair of obsidian eyes flashed, penetrating the darkness of the corridor ahead. Curious, Light followed L's gaze, then cursed himself for not being able to follow what his rival was doing. Quickening his paces, he ran next to L.

They kept running until the corridor split into two.

Which way? Light's first instinct told him to stop, though on second count, it commanded him to turn left. That was because from this corridor, Light recalled the right one lead to the elevator, which they couldn't proceed from. That was why he automatically ran to the left, but then crashed into the other man on his left, who was running to the right.

Stupid.

"Watch where you're going!" Light groaned, angry and pissed, rubbing his arm while leering towards L, who was also rubbing the side of his arm. Light turned and glared into the right corridor, and was satisfied that his memory didn't fail him; it did lead to the elevator. Strange, the owner of the building took the wrong turn...

"Pardon," L said, his hoarse voice slightly annoyed Light, though inwardly he felt victorious. But he wasn't happy dealing with L who wasn't his usual self tonight. As if the one in front of him wasn't the real detective.

When Light turned to see L in the darkness, L had turned around and ran towards the right turn. Light started running after him again.

Both of them ran without diminishing their speed. All along, Light tried not to think. He only had to retrieve the Death Note and get out of here forever. As for L, if there's still a good chance to kill this man, he would-

"_I will protect you."_

That was obviously a lie. L was a person who could do whatever he wanted, and in this case, which Light eventually came to realize with boiling rage, was that L had been trying to patronise him. Light hated it; he despised always being under the control of the detective, though the situation forced him to do that.

L had been trying to hide the identity of the one who broke into the building, until he lied so much to carry out his intentions. He didn't care if Light knew it was all lies. This truly made him sick, recalling how L acted in the toilet before, his stomach twisted into a knot. It felt as if L didn't recognise his existence as a rival, and regarded him as a weakling. Perhaps L's lies would have worked their way if it was directed to Matsuda or whomever the person was-

And the thought of L considering him an equal to Matsuda and the rest was nauseating. If L survived in the end, although L had promised him, he knew whatever came out of L's mouth henceforth, definitely would be a lie.

Lies and more lies.

Whatever came out of the detective's mouth were all lies.

However, L's fake promise still resounded in Light's mind, and he realized how muddy his thoughts were a few minutes ago, when looking at the frail figure of L running next to him-

-n-next to him...

...was only a dark, empty space.

"Ryuzaki!"

Light shouted, his voice undeniably hoarse. He stopped and spun around, but all he could distinguish was darkness.

The chills crept down his spine, the panic nearly killed him.

"RYUZAKI!" Light raised his voice, it created quite an echo, loud enough to make him step back and held a defensive position. He felt like able to foresee the knife coming from the stygian void ahead and into his stomach.

No response.

Light whirled around, turning his head back and forth. He even looked up and down, seeking and searching. L shouldn't be that far away from him! For God's sake! They were just running together no more than a minute ago.

"Ryuzaki!" he shouted, this time at a slightly lower tone. But a shout was a shout, and his desperate shout made him clench his fists in annoyance.

No response, and Light ran back, following the direction where he came from. He ran along the corridor, the one with a strong fishy stench. On the next turn, he halted his feet, eyes widening with his breath clogged up his throat. He caught the sight of a figure in white shirt that was way familiar for him.

Sighing deeply, Light walked towards the other man. "Oi Ryuuza-"

Light stopped, his hand half outstretched.

L was leaning against the wall. The thick hair covering part of his cheeks, so Light couldn't see the face. One hand clenched on the wall, it was as if supporting his full body weight. His breath... and his body...

_L's condition is strange._

"Ryuzaki!" Light sprinted forward reflexively. He caught L in a fraction of a second, before the man slumped to the ground.

"Ryuzaki. Oi Ryuzaki!" For the umpteenth time Light shouted, but his tone wasn't panic, it was _confusion._ He reached for L's arm, and pulled him to stand up straight.

"Don't! —_uugh." _

In shock, Light almost let the detective's body go.

"What the-"

For a moment, Light couldn't see the black eyes behind those black fringe, but he saw L's lips, and those lips were moving, mumbling a sentence.

"...It felt more painful," L whispered.

Light blinked. "Eh?"

"Painful," L repeated.

"..."

"..."

Inhaling sharply, Light climbed slowly to his feet. He pulled L's arm – rather roughly – to support the man to stand up. But L's weight pulled him down again. Light gasped softly, frowning.

"—Don't."

"What?" asked Light, his tone slightly offended, clearly unable to comprehend the unclear sentence. He lowered his head to glare at L's face, his eyebrows fused together.

"Don't," L hissed, "Don't touch it."

"Wha-" Light repeated, his voice softer, if not confused. Light's eyes sought what L meant, falling on his rival's face.

Those pale lips opened and closed. L's eyes were closed, the small muscles around his eyes twitched uncontrollably. Light rolled his eyes down to the neck. L's shoulder slumped forward, and from where Light stood, he could see the curved spine, and the veins in his neck bulged. Light lowered his eyes to the chest, which moved up and down harshly. And-

Light went tense.

"Don't tell me... you are..."

Light knelt to the ground, his knees nearly touching L's. He felt L tense and tried to get up. Stubborn, like the old L. It was a failure, of course. The detective slumped down again with one hand clutched around his covered abdomen.

Impossible.

Without warning, he grabbed L by the collar, feeling the fabric dusty and a bit damp under his palms. L jerked away, but he couldn't stop the sudden movement. Quickly Light lifted the white shirt, didn't pay much attention to the body which slightly struggled beneath him. But L didn't tell him to stop, and Light felt like he ought to do that. Only L's nails pierced through Light's shirt, went through his skin-

Light widened his eyes in disbelief.

White, red and blue. Light didn't need flashlight to see those bruises and marks on L's skin. The areas near the stomach… the ribs, to be exact. His suspicious had proved right.

"You…" Light whispered, holding his breath. Shock and disbelief seared his chest.

_Inner bleeding._

_A-and L... he had endured it... since back then?_

Light shifted his eyes to L, glaring down with his wide eyes.

L didn't response to his glare; he shrugged a little and fixed his shirt. That made Light feel even more disgusted. Suddenly, he wanted to kick the other man again, but he realized it would only make the situation worse. L had been hurt long before he met him, judging from his messy look. But still, Light couldn't ignore he was also responsible for a few bruises on L's wounded skin, for he had kicked L a few times after the man shot him. He didn't remember how many times he had kicked and punched L's stomach.

Light assumed that he didn't hit L that hard. But in the peak of anger, was it true that he didn't hit L that hard? From the beginning, he should have known that L's thoughts were not conservative. He shouldn't be too emotional in handling L's action. But why, tonight, everything felt so different?

Silence ruled over them again. Light sighed, completely understood that wasting time in silence wasn't a good choice in their situation. He tried to swallow a dry lump in his throat, and spoke:

"You must be treated immediately."

No answer. Light was beginning to get frustrated. He scratched his nails against his trousers, and wiped the cold sweat off his palm. Unconsciously, Light reached his pocket, and felt something in there: his cellphone.

Was this a chance?

"Listen," Light spoke, his voice frighteningly calmer than his usual self. He reached into his pocket, pulling the device out. "Some of your ribs are broken. You should understand how dangerous that is, Ryuzaki," he said while flipping the phone open, casually turning it on. The signal was great and the battery was half full. "I think, the best way is to call for hel-"

"No!"

Before Light could blink, the phone in his hand had slipped, it crashed to the ground with a crunch, spinning a few times until it bumped against the unseen wall.

Light blinked. He glared at the cellphone down there, which was invisible in the darkness. But he knew the device had broken into pieces. He turned his gaze to the malefactor. Anger was clearly drawn on his face now, even in the dark. Light opened his mouth, but he couldn't utter a single word. A hard lump in his throat choked him, blocking his breath.

"Forgive me, Yagami-kun." The response came from those pale lips which Light wanted to hit badly. L shrugged, standing upright with both hands in his pockets. He looked away and casually said, "I will replace it later."

_Sonofabitch!_

Light glared at him, gritting his teeth and clenching his hands tightly until they throbbed. If he didn't realize how serious L's condition was, he would like to beat L again. However, that wouldn't solve the problem, and it would benefit the enemies that were targeting on L—no, both of them.

Trying to be composed, Light sighed, long and slow. He gulped once, and felt pain in his narrowed throat when he did. "Oh, whatever," he retorted. "I am trying to help you, Ryuzaki, but if you have a better way to save yourself, fine, I'll just follow you."

L went silent. His eyes flickered close and open, as if he was processing Light's nonchalant statement. Finally, he began to move, supported by the wall. His body hunched more than usual. Light didn't have to come closer to see L was trembling; he knew the stubborn man was trying to act strong, though the truth was the exact opposite. He could read extreme exhaustion in every line of L's body.

Light rolled his eyes mockingly. The other man took a few steps forward. He wasn't trembling heavily anymore, but his legs seemed unable to support his weight any longer. Pathetic. He only had to count down; Three, two, one, zero – checkmate, L slumped down with one hand clutched around his wounded abdomen. When Light approached him, L rose, as if he didn't need help. Trying to move his legs, with both hands clenched tightly on his side, L staggered forward.

'_I will protect you.'_

'_Ha! Look at that! That weak and frail body swears to protect me?' _Light thought, an unknown emotion burning in his chest. Suddenly he felt superior. When he thought about that, without realizing it, a smirk formed on his face.

L tried to walk faster now, but his trembling legs and his flimsy walking couldn't trick Light's eyes. When L looked as if he would fall again, Light rolled his eyes and sighed.

Come on.

"Do you want me to carry you?" Light asked.

This was no joke. Light was serious. Time kept on ticking and with L's condition it wasn't possible for them to move forward. In addition, if L understood a special hint in Light's voice, he could take the offer as atonement. Light had made him bleed after all.

As a reply to the offering, the detective turned his head to him, it scattered sparks of intensity to the air between them. Light forecast that L feel annoyed. Inwardly, he started to smirk with a glorious feeling.

But he was wrong.

The detective lowered his head, face tightened. He reminded Light to a child who lost his mother in the middle of a market. L whispered, "No, thank you." The tone wasn't as sharp as usual, it made something deep within Light sparked a little. For the second time tonight, he felt like becoming the antagonist in their stupid drama.

L started to walk, becoming faster and faster, and he ran again. Light followed soundlessly from behind, he fixed his eyes to the front, to L's hunched back. The detective ran at consistent speed. Light ran next to him, only to quicken his pace a moment later, feeling relieved to see the only door at the end of the corridor; their goal.

Light ran so fast until he passed through L, but then decided to slow down a bit, as he glanced at the other man's face beside him.

L was looking at the door with an empty gaze, as if he wasn't there.

_Thump!_

A few pieces of sugar cubes and candies fell from the little jar, which was accidentally touched by those spider-like fingers, a few moments after they entered the room. They fell onto the ground, bounced a few times and rolled, before stopping near Light's feet. The sound of the light objects falling onto the floor felt like explosions among the stillness.

But it wasn't the lack of noise that made such an impression on Light, it was L's _expression_. The detective's face, which used to be stoic, still had no expression on it. But in Light's eyes, who was used to live with his enemy about four months, L's face was more than expressionless when the man glared, unblinking, at his laptop.

The laptop blinked red under L's nose, signifying the coming of an urgent message.

The tapping sound could be heard from the Mac keyboard of the detective's after the message appeared. A pair of onyx eyes shone, reflecting by the light from the laptop, they glared at the monitor without a single blink.

Light crossed his hands and inhaled a few times, uncomfortable feelings presiding within his mind. He couldn't see L's face in the darkness. It made him felt trapped, ensnared in the darkness.

"He loves to play."

L's voice snapped him back to his body.

"What?"

Light clenched his jaw after asking it, for he knew L's statement sounded like the beginning of an argument. He chose to stay silent, putting his hands on his hips, standing behind the detective whose hands were busy kneading his own shoulder, as if he was interested with nothing but himself.

"He only loves to play," L continued on his own accord. For a moment Light thought the detective was talking to himself, as he saw the pale face was dull like a corpse. "He loves to play with the psychological condition of his prey. His main weapon is manipulation. He loves to toy with the prey's mind as he wishes. He loves to experiment, whether big or small. For example, he loves to experiment to know what will happen if he did something irrational in a specific condition, what kind of response his opponent would generate, if he was placed in a condition that he could never imagine before." L's hand ran across his wounded neck at the moment. "I understand him, probably, because he's just like me."

Light stood silent, rubbing his stiff shoulder nonchalantly, pretending not to pay attention. His eyes were unfocused, but he was listening.

L continued, "For example, physically, he put his enemies in the darkness; he would overturn their logical thoughts, so they entered a state in which they were struck by nyctophobia. He didn't care how great you were in dealing with the situation you're in. Once you fell into his trap, there is no way you could escape. He knows exactly the weakest part of his prey, and so he knows how to destroy his prey, even without having to lay his hands directly on them," L said, his voice weaker, drowned in the middle of his noisy typing sound. "His motive is obvious. It is only to gain pleasure in winning against his adversary, and to satisfy his thirst and curiosity of an experiment."

The tapping sound grew louder.

A few moments passed. Until, Light decided to open his mouth:

"I see."

Knowing the detective wasn't willing to speak more, Light added, "I take it he has quite a principle. If you want to destroy a machine completely, then you have to damage the core inside it. And with his prey, he clearly knows what that is: the mind. It is something that can turn the impossible into possible. If you wish to control your their life, control their mind first."

It was just a simple opinion.

But Light was lucky; at least L gave a response. The tapping stopped, the detective looked at him over his shoulder. "Exactly, Yagami-kun. That is how he works. He would mutilate your mind, break it, and reconstruct it in the way he wants to."

Light understood. L wanted him to have a conclusion, as well as the key to solve the problem. The killer, he must admit, was no pushover. And the key to defeat him was to understand how he works. He needed to keep his logical mind safe. As long as he kept the most important thing in his body – his mind - under control, he would be safe.

He realized, he had almost fell right into the killer's trap. The ambiance that encapsulated this building, the strange sounds he heard in the darkness, all the blocked exits, even his heated argument with L... Light realized with heat rising in his chest, that all those were conditions prepared by the killer. The resultant fear, which burned against his chest, or even... all that he did, how he defended his ego and pride, even the incident in the toilet... all were in the killer's scenario.

Light gritted his teeth. He should have been able to act with a cool head. The night felt odd. He felt as if he wasn't in his own body. No, this wasn't Light Yagami, not to mention Kira... he even felt Kira was far from his grasp. But it wasn't only him who experienced drastic change in attitude... the same thing also happened to L. For a moment, Light doubted the presence of the detective in front of him. His different attitude, his speech, his actions, the muscles that formed his facial expressions. Light felt both he and L were not in their own bodies.

Everything was like in an illusion. Phantasmagoria. Everything that happened before his eyes were like a string of unreal events, that formed into reality. Such horrible thoughts. Light was unable to believe in his own thoughts anymore, even to predict L's next step. Probably, from the beginning they had been under the control of the puppet master.

Light clenched his fists tighter.

Surrendering under the domination was the last thing he would be in. He shouldn't fail for the second time. He must be able to turn the tables.

Light shook his head when L typed faster now. "What are you doing?" he asked, without any hidden intention, only to break the silence.

"Trying to contact Watari," L answered.

Light rolled his eyes and snorted. "Oh? I thought he was on leave. Someone told me this morning. And who knows he has been here already."

Just as Light predicted, the detective chose to pretend not to hear the mocking statement, he dismissed it with even louder tapping.

The big 'W' which represented Watari went onto the screen. L's skeletal fingers, now paler, either because of the darkness or fear of impending doom, reached out to the microphone and brought it to his lips. Light stepped closer to the monitor.

"Watari?"

No answer.

"Watari!"

No response.

Light gulped when he detected the tension in the detective's voice. The air felt chilling, hindering his breathing.

"Watari. It's me. Are you there?"

Still no-

"_A...u ...re... Ryu... bzzz... sssshhhh... L...?... aw...ay rn_..."

"Watari!" The usually monotone voice started to be contaminated with panic and tension. Light narrowed his eyes. L bent forward and held the microphone tighter. "Watari! Aer you all right?"

"_Lawl... bzzzz..et..zzzz... he... re_..."

The voice of the old man sounded distant, mixed with whispers and noises echoing. It sounded as if there were waves crashing and snakes hissing on the other side, making his ears ache.

"Bzzz... he... c-c...ssshhhh... **dum...dum...dum**...**du-**"

"What is that?" whispered Light, stepping backward.

"Bzzz...**dum**...zzzzz...**dum**... bzzzz... _**dum dum dum dum**_-"

Footsteps, no; keyboard, no, it sounded like hammer, and it turned louder than Watari's voice. It was louder than L's voice. It echoed louder than anything. Horror flooded Light's eyes for an instant, hardening the lines around his mouth.

"-_**Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum**_-"

"Watari!" L's voice was muted by the sea of noises.

"Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum-"

The drums or whatever it was resonated with Light's accelerating heartbeat. But a loud tap on the table and the keyboard. L hurriedly punched in multiple keys, but the loud sounds didn't cease.

"Ryuzaki!" Light shouted. It didn't reach L's ears, his voice drowned in the deadly beat.

Panic struck, Light moved forward to reach L, who was standing in front of the only light in the darkness. He covered his ears to defy the sound. L spun around to him, the dry pale lips cracked open.

"Yaga-"

Light didn't have the time to look at the face, for in the next second, the light from the laptop, and those deafening sounds were completely gone.

Darkness and silence ruled once more.

"R-Ryuzaki?"

Light Yagami was a brilliant teenager; he was Kira, a God, the creator of the perfect ancestors for his New World. He feared nothing. He never felt fear before. His cunning and ability were beyond anything, perfect, so the fear that man had shouldn't be experienced by him as a God. But now, he could do nothing, and was holding back cold sweat that was almost breaking.

And why would the fake name of his enemy be the word that he uttered in this situation?

Light's ears were still ringing after the absence of frightening noises. His eyes widened at their maximum in the darkness. There wasn't a sliver of light in the room. The dark atmosphere and his constricted breathing, out of claustrophobia, began weakening the rest of his nervous system. However, he dared not to move a muscle. He heard the sound of drumbeats. Somewhere outside the room, and they were creeping closer.

_DUM DUM DUM_

Close. So close and even closer now.

"Ryuzaki!"

_DUM DUM DUM_

No response. All he could hear in the black room was several echoes of 'Ryuzaki' that he uttered earlier, rebounding off the metal walls and ceiling, echoing harrowingly in the darkness. His ears were still ringing. He gasped through clenched teeth, and instantly tasted bile at the back of his throat. His hands were shaky as he reached out and felt the table above him. He traced the smooth surface, trying to feel everything around him, _anything _that he could get his hands on. He was still here in the same room, he was still one feet away from L. He searched for his flashlight, his hands trembling when he turned it on.

"Ugh!"

In the darkness, what he could do was to cover his face, the other covering his chest, and he would curl up to prevent unwanted injuries. Something that he thought was the chair or table support stopped his feet and he tumbled over. He dropped his flashlight, it rolled a distance away from him.

The familiar sweet scent of candies struck his nose, and mixed with another smell: one that belonged to someone who he knew that was on his left, there were traces of warmth in the place where L was.

_L... is not here anymore...?_

"Ryuzaki!"

He couldn't help shouting. Soaked in sweat, he tried to stand up. But not even halfway up, he stopped. A chill traveled up his nape, freezing his entirety.

He heard something.

There was a _sound_ just now, about a few meters from where he was now.

A hiss. A friction.

Light's heart was beating strongly with fear. The noise didn't cease; it was close. Whoever was there, Light was sure, the killer wouldn't realize his existence in pitch black. Except, if the killer wasn't human, then he'd be able to see Light freezing like a mouse hearing the steps of the man putting up a trap right before its den.

Both amber eyes shut tight. He tried using his hearing sense to capture anything his eyes could not. The noise sounded like someone dragging his feet, _footsteps_, from the door, and moving _closer_ towards him.

Was it L? In this room there were only L and him, the automatic door couldn't be opened from the outside, and he didn't hear the door opened at all.

But Light knew, it wasn't L, it was that man, the killer. Only he could detect him in darkness. He must be in the same room with him now.

Should he shout to listen on the reaction of that noise? No, that would mean challenging him. Light had to move, just like their game in the emergency stairs. But now, he wouldn't repeat the same mistake; he would be cautious.

He wouldn't let the killer rule his mind again.

Quickly, Light crawled beneath the table, his back brushing against the cold metal. His target was the flashlight over there. In the darkness he could make use of it. He could blind the killer's eyes and attack him at the same time, and then run away from here.

He had no time to wait and detect the enemy's position. He rolled on the ground, reached the flashlight, and quickly pressed OFF. Pitch darkness returned. The sound of footsteps stopped; the perpetrator halted his feet a distance away from him. Light didn't stop. He didn't think or else the killer would try to control his mind. The way to counter it was to shut his mind, he didn't need to think, reflexive actions were the most effective weapon he had.

The darkness was disadvantageous to him, but at least Light's eyes adapted a little to it. Bending his body forward, he charged in the direction where he believed the killer was. The blood and strawberry scent stroke his nose. Light raised his fist, and pierced thin air ahead, which he believed to be a target. He missed. He didn't give up, he raised his fist again.

_Crack. _Light's second punch didn't hit an empty air, but something solid, a human body. He heard a faint cry, the same voice with the man's who assaulted him on the emergency stairs. He heard the body fall to the ground. Light turned on the flashlight, only trying to shock the opponent. His feet wouldn't stay on the floor, Light kicked the kille-

Light gasped. A pair of cold hands wrapped him from behind, pulling him backward. The flashlight slipped off his hand, falling to the floor.

With the flashlight dimly brightening his surroundings, Light witnessed a fist flying directly towards his face. He couldn't dodge, stuck between shock and panic, knowing the attacker seemed to be more than one.

But then the pair of cold hands released him, Light dodged reflexively, he fell to his knees to avoid the punch. He heard an impact next, which he assumed to be the fist hitting the mysterious person behind him. A painful cry followed. Light took the chance to reach out for the flashlight. Someone unseen kicked the flashlight. The thing rolled on the ground away from Light's reach.

Light growled and ran towards the flashlight. Behind him new sounds could be heard. It was of a fight. Light rolled on the ground and grabbed the flashlight. The sounds from the fight amplified, the impact between bones, followed by a body hitting the floor. He was relieved there was a distraction on the killer. But the good feeling fled as soon as his flashlight illuminated the figure of someone.

L lay weakly on the ground, one leg folded against his chest, ready to kick the body above him. A strong hand was strangling his neck. Light couldn't see the killer; his hand were frozen towards L. Realization dawned quickly on him.

Black silhouette now emerged because of the flashlight. Light saw a knive lifted high in the air.

"R-Ryuzaki!" Light shouted. The pale face he spotted with the flashlight turned to him, those black eyes widened. A clear emotion drawn on the detective's face, both pain and shock. Light knelt with one leg. He was ready to rush forward, dashing towards L.

_Run!_

"...No."

Light's body was frozen, a stone. Two different powers struggled inside him, one wanted to move forward, the other wanted to turn backward.

A scream. Light saw L struggle, but he couldn't break the strangling hold. Light still froze.

_Yagami Light, run!_

L struggled, he kept struggling. The knife was lifted high in the air.

Light gave up in the end.

He gave to one side, which he felt was the most appropriate. He had no other choice. He wouldn't allow himself to be under the enemy's mind game.

Light sprang to his feet, the flashlight grabbed tightly in his hand. He spun around, retreating from the battleground. He ran to the door, not looking back.

He had to get out.

He ran away.

Light ran as fast as his legs could carry him. He ran through the dark corridor with the flashlight as a guide. One corridor to another. He ran away from those fighting sounds.

There was gunshots. Twice. Another cry. They came from the same room from before. He quickened his pace more.

Light didn't care already; his mind wasn't there anymore. He wouldn't let any artificial minds control him.

He kept running. His goal was 23th floor, the floor where he met with L back then. There was a special room where Death Note sealed in a safety box inside.

Ignoring the gunshots, Light quickly approached the emergency door, a green 'Fire Escape' neon sign flashed out above it.' Unlike the damned emergency stairs in the right wing of the building, this emergency stairs was perfect. The green lights on the floor became his guidance to go down the stairs.

Light hastily went downstairs, his heart beating furiously against his ribs, sweat curling it way out of every pore of his body. He heard gunshot once, but he didn't care. His goal was the 23rd floor.

He kicked the door to 23th floor; it creaked loudly. Light widened his eyes, ready to take in the sight of a corridor of a butcher's. However, he didn't encounter strange things in the corridor. No fish stench. No dirt or stain on the floor. Everything was clean.

Light didn't waste the time to wonder; he ran straight ahead. He ran through several empty rooms. He turned right, then left and ran through another shortcut, until he reached the last junction. The flashlight was in his hand, a little bit worn, its light faded slowly by the second. It seemed the poor flashlight was broken after falling a few times at the battleground.

Light ran faster when he reached the last junction.

A firm metal door was ahead of him. At the right side there was an electronic box where he must enter an activation code for the door. Although the electricity had long since run out, the door was still functioning. Two observing cameras were still in function. Light entered the confirmation code. Next, he pushed his finger to scan his fingerprint, scanned his iris, and pushed the last button to open the door.

The chance wouldn't come twice. If L died tonight, then no one on earth could track Light. If Watari took over the investigation, Light would say there was a possibility the killer would come to take the Death Note and have it for his own use. Light took it to keep it safe, considering L was unable to protect that book, and he would give it to the task force later. There would be no problem if Light were caught with the Death Note in his hand. Next time, he would make a better scenario, but now he needed to hurry.

Light kicked the door open.

A box lay in the center of the room, glowing in 'ON' mode. A few security cameras around it worked normally. In this situation Light knew what to do: act. He ran forward, he used panic as his mask. He played a young man who tried to save Death Note from the intruder before he got killed.

He punched in the buttons. He needed to enter another code; Five-three-one-four-three-six-eight-four. Watari had set an easy code for every investigation member, including Light, who was regarded as main suspect. It was by L's request. Whoever entered the code, would be enlisted in the report.

Sweat trickled down his forehead. Chance wouldn't come twice. He must hurry.

Next, there was 'click' sound. Light forced himself not to smirk, he opened the box.

Widening his eyes, he aimed the flashlight to the center of the box. His lips parted open, he held his breath.

Silence.

Light's heart skipped.

The strongbox was empty.

The strongbox which was more or less 30x30 cm with grey metallic seemed to be laughing at his pale, shocked face. Light's face turned red, burning. His chest stifled with anger, he wished to explode into shouts.

"No," he whispered in disbelieve, voice heavy. He staggered backward. He directed the flashlight to the empty strongbox, as if trying to make sure of it. He was surprised that his legs trembled, and he went limp. It was only his pride that supported him and prevented him from falling.

Light knelt.

Death Note wasn't in this room. L had taken it before he arrived, or it had fallen into the killer's hand.

He couldn't leave without the Death Note. That thing was too precious, though he had Misa, she was just a backup.

No. No. He must calm down. Everything could be controlled. He could always control.

But after he landed his punch to the floor, Light could do nothing. Kneeling down with empty eyes, he stared at his bleeding fist.

If he didn't suddenly hear a shriek that came from several floors above, where he left L with the killer, probably Light wouldn't be able to release from the shock.

A shriek. And one more shot. Then silence.

A deadly silence.

He waited. No more screams, no more shootings, no more fight. Everything was gone, like the sand at beach swept away by the wave.

L. He knew that was L's voice…was L... L... h-had-

A danger signal turned on, it rang in his mind. Galvanized into action, Light got to his feet. He grabbed the flashlight and ran out of the room. He must get out. No matter what happened, he must get out of here! He still had a chance to get the Death Note back, probably not tonight. But he must get out! He couldn't let this precious life of his gone only to defend the weapon which had fallen into the enemy's hand.

L was defeated. He had died. Light didn't know where the detective kept the Death Note. There was only a small possibility he could find the Death Note in L's hand. But he didn't have any chance to investigate L's corpse.

But if Light was dead, then the story would end. He still had the chance to bring back the Death Note anytime. Since the notebook had the real owner, the creature that wouldn't be defeated by humans: a shinigami.

Rem was still here.

Light stumbled at the junction of three. He threw his back against the wall, catching his breath. He knew what to do next, what could save him, and get him out of this situation. Back then, when he was with L, he wasn't free to do that. Now, this was his last chance.

Calling Rem.

"REM!"

Light's scream was loud. He didn't fear the risk now. He knew anyone in this building could hear him. He couldn't help shouting. He didn't care.

"REM! WHERE ARE YOU?"

The second scream sounded hysterical. Light felt his body had transformed into a tiny mass like an ant.

"REM! SHOW YOURSELF!"

Rem was his shinigami. It was impossible for her to abandon Light, the human who owned her notebook. She couldn't ignore him. Light knew, Rem had appeared a few seconds when he and L were in the investigation room, when they found the Wara Ningyo doll and L left him to the second story, a white shade popped near the door.

But... i-if she really left Light, then...

"LAST WARNING!" Light shouted. He was panting already. His eyes shone in the dark when he glared at his watch. Putting his flashlight in his pocket to keep it shining, he pushed the buttons three times. A piece of Death Note paper and a needle.

"Rem, you hear me." This time Light didn't shout, remembering that Rem was his shinigami, they should be able to communicate although there was distance between them. She couldn't disappear.

"I'm serious and I do not doubt anything," he continued, his hand trembled when he thrust the needle to his fingertip. He smirked, just as a masochist would. "I will kill…" Blood started to drip from his finger, and he directed it to the paper. Slowly he started to write kanji letters for 'Amane'. "I'll kill Misa. If you do not come out at once and help me now... I'll kill that girl, Rem. I'm serious... because if I die here, then Misa surely will die as well." Light opened his eyes, a horrible smirk carved on his face. "That's what that girl-"

"**If you dare to do that, Yagami Raito, I'll kill you."**

The deep, heavy voice of that female shinigami boomed. Light shut his eyes, and slowly turned his head to the left, then he opened his eyes.

_There she is._

A white silhouette came out of the darkness, filled with elegance, shining white among shades of black, the female shinigami Rem. Her expression was of darkness. It was somewhere between a desire to ambush her prey in front of her, and an urge to protect herself.

OOO

Light realized how precious a human life was, when he watched the white shape moving towards him.

"Finally, you showed up," his voice filled with relieve. He clenched the paper with 'Amane' written on it in his palm. "Where have you been?" Now his tone changed to one of stern, like switching the channel on the TV. He was angry. He already told Rem to guard him. But the shinigami didn't appear when he needed her!

"Sorry Yagami Raito. It was hard to show myself in front of you. Especially when you were with L."

Light scoffed and squared his shoulders. "No problem." He turned to Rem. "Even though you should had come to me before I met L, when the situation in this building turned wild."

"Yes. But there was a little problem back then. Something happened unplanned. But I didn't do that intentionally."

"Oh Rem, you are not allowed to make compromises with me here. Have you forgotten our agreement?" Light swept the bangs that covered his eyes, threw a glance to the empty corridor for a while, then returned his gaze to Rem again. "I will not ask what happened and what's going on in this building. Now our main priority is to get me out of here, and Death Note... Do you know where the notebook is now? If you're clever you should have kept it."

She floated closer to him, her round eyes glowed violet as they locked on Light's. An unclear emotion carved on the grim-reaper face. "Listen, Yagami Raito. You can mock me, and blame me for anything you consider as my recklessness and my responsibility toward your notebook. But you know, I am a shinigami, and no human could reign over me and command me."

Rem's long finger lifted in the air, pointing at his face. An expression of anxiety replaced the one of confidence on Light's face, he said nothing.

"I detest you, Yagami Raito. I want to help you only because of Misa Amane. But beyond that is not my business. I won't do anything. I will keep my promise but you can't control me as you like."

Talking about shinigami, Ryuk was the one whose belief was hard to dent. He was worse than Rem. Since the beginning he told Light, he was neither in his side nor L's. Ryuk had been playing around, and at the same time protecting the laws of his own world. The same thing happened with Rem. Even though here, this shinigami used Misa as a reason to act.

Light sighed, it's no use to create argument between Rem and himself. "All right, I apologized for what I said. I was only panicking, so, you know, if anything happens to me then Misa will be the one that will be saddened the most. So rather than the two of us quarreling about useless things, we should be prioritising the things that we need to do."

Rem looked at him straight in the eyes. Light wasn't afraid to stare back, with total confidence.

"Fine. I will do as you wish; so long as it is for Misa," Rem declared softly, face still stern.

And with that everything would be going well.

"All right, my first priority is to get out of here. If it is possible, with the Death Note as well," Light said, hands extending out. "Can you help me with this?"

"I'll try. I know clearly that some doors cannot be opened. But I'll help you find the way."

"Then where is the Death Note? Even though you failed in retrieving it, I am sure you are always watching it."

For a moment Rem was silent. "Yes. The notebook is with L. He took it since before you came here."

Light shook his head. "All right, where did L keep it?"

"As far as I know L kept it with him all the time. He slipped it in his shirt, or his pants, on his back behind him. Or perhaps rolled it in his jeans pocket."

_Holy Shit!_

Light assumed L was dead. With the situation like this, it would be hard for Light to regain it. He could ask Rem to take back the Death Note from L's corpse later or wherever that thing was later, after Light escaped safely from this place. But what if the notebook had fallen into the hands of the enemy?

Light could save his memory, just in case the Death Note was stolen, by touching Misa's notebook. But still, with the Death Note in another person's hands, then automatically Rem would... ah, perhaps with the pretense of helping Misa, he could influence Rem to kill this unknown enemy. Wasn't that good? If Rem killed someone for the safety of other human, then the shinigami would technically disappear too. The advantage would be double.

This was excellent. Kira was the embodiment of truth, a basis of law that befit the true justice. The angel of victory would always smile at him. He never failed. He would win.

But, Light didn't allow himself to be happy before he came out safely from this building. At least Rem was here, protecting him, he would be safe. Death Note could wait.

"All right Rem, I want you to help me out of here. Lead me. And if there is still a chance, no matter how small it is, to retrieve the notebook, let's do it. But the first priority is my safety."

"All right, I'll be next to you. Run straight to the corridor in front, Yagami."

Without taking another breath, Light ran. Rem glided next to him, becoming his entourage. At the end there was only one turn to the right, and Light turned quickly, he never looked back.

On the next junction, Light had just wanted to turn left until Rem said, "Turn to the right."

"How do you know that?" Light asked without reducing his speed, but he followed the advice.

"I'm not supposed to tell you, but I'm telling you which direction to go based on my sight."

Light didn't ask further; he had realized that Rem led him by watching his lifespan. The Shinigami saw which direction was the safest and wouldn't endanger his life, and of course avoiding the routes which reduced his lifespan.

Light hated this. But only Rem and her shinigami eyes could save him from death's jaws now. No matter what, he had to be grateful for that.

The next corridor led to the right wing of the building. It smelled stink. But Rem told him to go left. He slowed his run a little, when he felt the floor becoming slightly slippery. Seeing the next corridor, Light raised his speed to reach the one place he knew for sure, the dark, damned emergency stairs. He glanced to the right, Rem was still there with him. Then he started running, swung open the door, until he stopped before the dark stairs towards the next floor, and the floor below.

"Which way?"

"...Up."

Light blinked. "Aren't you mistaken? Up there-"

"I'm looking at the number above your head. Indeed your lifespan will not decrease if you go down, but," Rem's eyes glinted once in the dark, Light watched it anxiously. "I see, your number increased instead."

"How's that possible?"

Rem shook his head. "I don't know. I'm only a shinigami; I could only look at your time of death, not what happens next. But which way to take is up to you."

Crossroads, they're difficult in human life, but it is something we will meet, wherever we are, every time we step out to meet the future. That is known as choices in life. That is why you hear wise men say: 'life is a choice'. Unfortunately, not all are able to take the right choice, eventually going the wrong route and arriving where they didn't wish for. But that is a life. Sometimes when there are two distinct choices, all we can manage is to sit pondering between the two. We're often feeling scared, hesitant to take the step forward, but eventually wasting time only due to the fear of choosing.

Light's life was filled with such crossroads. Perhaps the difference was that, he never hesitant in choosing. Perhaps this confidence was, as his positive mind and feeling staunchly believe the bright route ahead, that it always led him to the perfect destination. Sometimes, he found himself thinking, if he didn't take Death Note, what would happen to him? That future kept on progressing, as an immortal life in a parallel world, the one he couldn't possibly reach, for he had already taken the other route. Once he stepped in, he couldn't go back.

'_Once you step in, you cannot go back,' _it sounds frightening indeed. But every human is given the ability to turn back his fate, to change it, and pave the route to the destination that he wanted. Just like **Alice**, the imaginary girl from the children's story _'Alice in Wonderland'. _She was going through the same thing, facing two choices. Alice asked for help from the **Cheshire Cat, **and the cat replied wisely – if not misleadingly – 'That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.'

That was it. That was what Light must do.

Without much arguing, Light stepped up the stairs. Rem, behind him, was hesitated for a moment, before following him in silence.

Kira was destined to lead the world, so every road he took was already decided as his fate. Even though he ended taking the wrong step, he could still turn back to the crossroads before. Nothing would be too late. Everything could be handled.

Catching up his own breath, panting, Light was already on the level where he left L. He traced the railing with his hand; it felt cold against his skin. Rem said nothing.

"What now?" Light turned towards the creature on which he bet his life on, his eyes glinting a little of tiredness. He needed reassurance.

Rem understood the meaning of his question, her eyes shining red staring at the lifespan on top of Light's head. She shook her head. "Still the same. It kept increasing."

"Good. That means I'm in a safe position?" Light asked again, more to reassure himself. He started to have bad feelings.

Those red eyes shone again, until at last they turned violet. "...With the extension of your death's time, it means death becomes more distant from you. Of course that is safe." However, her calm voice sounded darker than before, adding to his anxiety a little.

Light could only bet his life on Rem. This female Shinigami must take responsibility if anything were to happen to him. "Do you think there is a possibility that if I proceed forward, the number above my head will suddenly decrease? Well... something like... as a sudden change of fate and is irresistible..." Suddenly, he felt anxious.

Rem looked at him in the eyes. "When that time comes I'll warn you."

Light forced himself to not smile. "Is that so? That means you already know, if anything happens, you know what you must do?"

"Yes."

_Perfect._

Light stepped into the dark corridor that he had passed before. He worriedly glanced at Rem. No matter what the situation in this floor was worrying. He couldn't hear anything. Everything was dark and silent, like a graveyard. _This is L's grave, of course._

On the other hand, his masochistic curiosity wanted to hear voices, any sounds, so he knew where he must go; although Rem was here, but still-

"Turn to the right, Yagami Raito."

Light did it without commenting.

He turned every time Rem told him to, and Light realized the route he was taking now wasn't the same as the one he took with L. On the next corridor he was feeling closer to the exit, which was a good omen. He quickened his paces.

On the next turn Rem asked him to stop for a while, checking his lifespan. Light felt heat rising within his gut when he heard the lifespan had been increasing since he came here. So, when Rem told him to turn right, which Light didn't realize was the same route he took with L before, Light had no doubt in moving forward.

Light kept running. Rem continuously peeked at his face, above his head, checking his condition. And Light, though he usually hated someone observing every movement of his, felt calm instead. On the next turn, he slowed down a little, preparing for the left turn, until Rem told him to turn right. He eventually realized this was the same route with the one he took with L. His stomach turned into a knot when looking at the corridor to the right, which led him to the elevator. He recalled, this was the same junction where they crashed into each other before.

He looked at the direction advised by Rem, eyeing them with distrust. It was a dead end, only leading to a broken elevator. "You want me to..."

"I'm only looking at your lifespan."

_It's logical. _Nevertheless this was the safest route. Light dashed forward without giving it much thought. With all his might he opened the elevator door.

Dark. Obviously, he was on the 20-something floor. This was quite a dangerous route. Light spent some time looking up the vertical space above, and looked down to the deep ravine. The lift stopped about 10 floors below him.

The teenager stretched his body a little, licking his dry lips. "Where?"

"...up, climb up. One floor above."

Light looked at her with undisguised suspicion. "I don't know which route can lead to the exit. But I think the further we go up, the further my distance is to the exit. Though L probably has a secret route to the exit, but-"

"Once again, I only lead you by looking at the number above you. What's next is up to you," answered Rem calmly.

He felt cold air from the dark corridor licking the skin about his neck, which wasn't covered by the black, damp shirt. The flashlight set inside his pocket, still turned on. He felt cold perspiration on his palms, and he brushed them against the sides of his pants.

Light stretched his hands forward, reached the elevator rope, and then jumped.

For a few moments he went tense. He was hanging up there, his hands damp and slippery on contact with the rope. It took some time for Light to calm himself, catching his breath. He brought his feet against the wall, supporting his body, and started climbing slowly.

He felt Rem's hand on his back, as if supporting, and there was a feeling of relieve, though he didn't want to admit it.

Heavy. He didn't realize his body was heavy. But he was strong stronger than he looked. He would never ask Rem to carry him up. He was more than able to do this.

Biting his lips harder, he climbed faster, until he reached the next floor. Light raised one of his feet, swaying a little, and he stepped on the small protrusion behind the elevator door. Rem's hand was behind him, until he felt it withdrawing. Light began to panic a little without any support, but he kept his face calm. Stretching one hand forward, with all effort, he tried to open the elevator door. Luckily, even though he didn't want to thank her now, Rem took the initiative and helped him. The elevator door was opened. Light jumped in.

The seconds after Light stepped on the next floor, he felt his feet and hands going numb. He stepped forward, swaying slightly from side to side.

"Now where?" Light realized his breath was a little irregular when asking that, and he quickly took a deep breath.

Rem looked at him again above his head. Light waited until her red eyeballs turned neutral. "No problem. You can continue." When Light ran forward, Rem said, "Proceed forward, and then left."

Turning to the left, Light continued to run.

The situation on this level was no different from the previous damned floor. Silent. Dark. Cramped. They eroded his rational mind. Light still could – so far – control himself. As he had sworn, he wouldn't let 'him' control him. Manipulate his mind. Reign over him. The killer didn't know Light was with Rem, which became his trump card tonight. With this, Light was a few steps ahead of him, he would win.

Light turned right when Rem told him to. The shinigami glided behind him.

He would tell Rem to take back Death Note later, at all costs. Regardless, seriously, if Death Note was to fall to the killer's hand, then automatically, this man would become Light's new enemy, one of those he needed to exterminate.

Who actually was the killer? It wasn't confirmed whether he knew of the existence of Death Note. But knowing L securing the notebook... there was a possibility the killer had known something about Kira's case... and about L... and even about Light.

Memories of how the killer violated him on the stairs was nauseating. He felt the bite and deep scratches on his skin swollen. Disgusting. Whoever the killer was, although he didn't take the Death Note, Light would still consider him an enemy, remembering what he had done to him.

But perhaps... Light's hatred was also... w-was it possible? Was it the result of the killer's mind tricks? L said the killer liked the condition where he could play an illogical game deliberately created to destroy his enemy... by creating an unnerving psychological condition. Perhaps the affair on the stairs just now was his attempt at poisoning Light's mind, to act on his will-

"Sorry Yagami, I have to-"

"Huh?" Light was still running when Rem's voice suddenly rung behind him. He didn't want to talk while running, but then, he decided to ask, knowing that Rem's voice sounded... gloomy. "What?" Light slowed down, turning around, he looked at Rem.

Nobody was behind him.

Rem disappeared.

The blood rushed through his veins. He stepped backward. His body felt hot, as if blood gushed out his every pore.

"R-Rem?" he gulped, voice shaking in panic. "Rem!" he raised his tone.

He directed his flashlight in all directions. Up, down, left, right. Nobody.

N-No...

Light just wanted to shout out Rem's name, until he jerked.

There was a male voice behind him, a few meters from where he stood. It was like that of someone clearing his throat, and then coughed. The sound came from where he wanted to go before.

Light went panic. Very panic. How could there be a person there? Who? L was dead. Was it the killer?

Rem... she tricked him! She had been trying to trap him all along...!

"_Ugh..."_

Light's heart skipped a couple of beats then raced to beat hell. Slowly, with his eyes wide, he turned towards the direction of the groan. He lifted his flashlight. The darkness was overpowered by his fear, sucking in all emotions, leaving him only as flesh and skin, with brains filled with threats.

The flashlight felt too bright when it reflected off the pearl-white sweater, and almost faded old jeans. And the man wearing those was kneeling on one knee. One hand forming a fist on his stomach, another on the floor. The pale face was unseen, but with his messy black hair, Light didn't need to see further, to recognise the phenomenal figure.

L.

OOO

"...Ryuzaki," Light whispered in disbelief, voice trembling, it echoed throughout the stygian air.

The pale man knelt motionless, black locks of hair covering his forehead and eyes like a curtain. L's hands clutched on his stomach. His knees were shaking.

"_Uggh..."_

Shocked, Light moved forward against his will.

"R-Ryuzaki... are you..."

Light halted his feet. One hand raised towards L, but it stopped mid-air.

"Ryuza-" he whispered, but couldn't finish it, an audible lump filled his throat.

Light had left the detective when he was struggling for his life. Even to call L by his alias... was difficult. Light wished he could turn back and get out of here now. The heat within his gut was too much too bear. But he couldn't move. He just couldn't. But that wasn't because of the guilty feeling that made him unable to move.

It was because L's face, as white as snow, his lips, his hairs, his chin, cheekbones and nose, his eyes were round and wide, and black-

No...t-that...was...

L's face was dull. He knelt there as if praying to his God. Slowly, he looked up, but he didn't lock his gaze on Light's face like he normally would. No. L locked his gaze on the empty air above Light. Those pale lips slightly opened, dark eyes staring at the shapeless air about Light's head. A deep, straight vertical crease formed in the center of his forehead.

Light held himself not to see what was on his head or behind him, was it Rem? He could only stand still. For a few reasons, he didn't want to see what the other man was seeing. What he saw now was both of L's eyes... those dark eyes were...like...

"...Yagami..."

...glinting in red, under the flashlight. Those eyes didn't blink when the owner sang his name.

"...Raito..."

And L flickered his eyes back to him, completely locking on Light's stern face. His expression changed. It wasn't expressionless; it wasn't L's normal expression. But-

Light's heart raced, the blood pulsing hot and fast through his veins again. He took a step backward. The instinct told him to... _run_... run from here, at once.

"Raito."

A heavy baritone voice, even heavier than Light ever heard before. It sounded weak, hoarse, like he was in despair.

L stretched his hand out toward him. His gaze somehow hooded with fear. Light felt his throat choked, when the detective opened his mouth again.

"Please... help..."

Light stepped backward, and shook his head frantically. The air felt so cold. Light's fist clenched on his side, and without he noticed it, he started to tremble. The flashlight also trembled in his hand, its light oscillating when brightening L's figure. He wanted to run.

Those pale lips opened again. "_Help me _Raito... It's hurt..." The pale hand trembled pathetically in the air. L's face was pale, very pale until Light was unable to recognize the detective's real face. _"It is hurt so much, _please..."

L was _begging._

That damn detective... the archenemy of his... h-he was-

"Raito," The detective gasped and lowered his face, hands trembling. "I... I can't take this... anymore."

"Ryu...zaki," Light whispered, completely frozen in place. A shiver ran up his spine and something hot crested in his stomach.

"Help me," L said, his voice low and breaking in pain. When L raised his chin, Light saw those eyes, which were as black as the night sky, were not as dark as usual. But- "Get me out of here. It's hurt I need to get out of here." L tried to reach out to Light, palm toward him, fingers spread and trembled. "_Raito please.._."

Shaking his head, Light didn't realize he had taken a step forward closer to L. His throat narrowed and eyes still popped wide with shock. Light saw L's eyes flicker close and open, and started to drag his knees to move toward Light.

"Please Raito... _Kira-sama_. I'll do... I'll do everything you want."

It was more than enough to make Light's legs weak, and his blood run faster in his veins. His stomach roared in anticipation. It would not bring him just a smirk, but it would make him scream. He would reach the top, the peak of all, and had a joyous orgasm.

Kira had won.

Light understood. There would be no more a man that ruled as the strongest man in the world... L had died... now, the one in front of Light was-

"Please save me. I don't want to die." L's voice was so low he couldn't hear it.

Slowly, as if those pleading eyes of the biggest enemy hypnotized him, Light's body moved on its own. He raised his hand as well. Every system in his body seemed to be defragmented. He felt his body becoming lighter. For a while he didn't know where he was.

Kira had won.

"Ryuzaki," Light whispered, extending his hand out to meet L's. "I can't hear... what you're saying." His words came out rough and low, more a groan than a whisper with eyes half opened. The effect of joyous orgasm sparkled inside him, evaporating through his pores. The muscles twitched uncontrolably in the corner of his lips, he wanted to scream, he wanted to laugh.

Kira had won.

"Raito... _Kami-sama_." L, the former three world's greatest detectives, was on his knees, welcoming his God's help. "Take me out of here."

"...L." One inch from L's pale hand. "L."

Kira had won.

Half an inch. Close. Very close now.

"L-"

And Light saw fire.

Suddenly, everything went like a slow motion.

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**TBC**

**I understand there are many speculations with the number of lifespan in shinigami's eyes. I don't know, I always thought the number of lifespan is fixed ever since you're born, the number represents the date of your death, so it does not increase or decrease. But some people say the numbers might keep changing everyday, and will turn zero if you die, and Rem in my fic cannot be trusted either. Err... What do you think?**


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Light's biggest weakness was his ego. But when I think about it again, the weakness was born from Kira. The real Light Yagami was almost perfect. I used to believe Kira had bigger potential to win, if he completely focused on becoming God and building the new world. But when L came, he played with L instead, and his new goal was to defeat the detective. If I were Light, I'll chose to ignore L instead... hmm... it's not that difficult, it's impossible for L to track him down. L was lucky since Kira was the one who made himself appear on the surface. But yeah, without L and Light, Death Note is meaningless.**

**I love Light. Its sad he died pathetically in the end (well, but I love the anime version though). He had drastic change in attitude when he was cornered, surrounded or if everything didn't goes as he had planned. In this fic, I am trying to do something with Light's characterization, or in other words, I toyed with his mind, for the sake of his development. I'd like to give him one more chance to become God, but no pain no gain, of course. It's very late but happy birthday, Light!**

**Thank you very much for reading and reviewing. Hope you like this chapter.**

**~Sioen**

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L had submitted.

Kira was the winner. Kira was the owner of absolute power.

L had lost, kneeling on the ground, bowing submissively in front of Kira, his God. Only seeing him act like that, even if Light shut his eyes and listened to those begging, was almost too much to bear.

L's eyes were round and wide, a manifestation of mystery, like a labyrinth that anyone who entered would become trapped inside. In his eyes, Light saw resistance, childish, egocentric, and now, desperation. They were like quicksand which sucked him into a bottomless swamp.

And those eyes were Kira's now.

Light halted his feet. Staring down at L, he stood like a stone.

Before him, L tilted his head, those eyes desperate and in pain. _Why do you stop?_ Light read those lips. _Please take my hand_ Light read those eyes, but they were so dark he couldn't see his reflection in there.

Even Light didn't know the answer, when he staggered backward. Something was holding him back. Something was screaming within his brain, telling him to stop, to move backward, to run.

L's eyes darkened, as he stared at something behind Light.

From those eyes, Light saw fire, his eyes catching the glint of the blade.

And everything went like a slow motion.

"_Stay away from him_."

A shout came from behind, and it sounded similar to L's voice; although the said detective was kneeling before him.

Quick footsteps, followed by gunshot. Someone pushed Light with such force he fell aside. Between his deliberation, Light caught the side of L's face. An imaginary face. He never saw L make a face like that before.

Someone lunged towards L; the killer. He looked like L at the first glance; black hair, six feet, skinny, white sweater and loose jeans. Before Light could see the whole face, he heard cracking sound and the flashlight went off. Light bumped against the wall.

The intense fight was a few feets away from where Light laid on the ground. The impact woke him up from a trance, as if he just returned into his body after going through hallucination. Everything was pitch black. He couldn't see anything. Taking a deep breath, he felt his lungs filling with evil.

A hitting sound and another crashing came from the fight. Hard contact between skin and skin. A grunt from one of them that succeeded in hurting the enemy in the darkness.

Light realized it now; his game was over. He couldn't move. He had to run. Out. As quick as his legs could carry him. But how? Without the flashlight, and without Rem, that traitor, he would die.

As if falling from the heaven, Light felt something roll to his direction. Trembling, he reached his hand out and groped the cold metallic floor. He hoped it was flashlight so he could-

No, it wasn't.

Probably this was for the first time...no, actually when he was a little boy, his naughty hand often touched things he considered interesting: Soichiro's gun was one of those things. Since that day, Soichiro never let his gun off its belt. Light knew what he had done was wrong, and he decided to lay his interest on tennis racket. So, although without any light, he knew it was a gun.

No. It wouldn't happen.

And he heard that. The sound of body hitting the groand, and... a crack sound like a bone broken, and a scream. L. It was L. Although the detective had never uttered it with a high pitch, he knew it was L's scream.

L had lost the fight.

Springing to his feet, a gun in his hand, Light shot.

It felt as if his eardrums breaking. The shooting sound was so loud breaking the empty air. Light jerked in return, hands trembling around the gun tightly. He saw black spots in his eyes when the bullet went through the corridor ahead. At the moment, he felt time was ticking slowly, his heart skipped.

No reaction.

He shot no one.

Then he heard something, a laugh.

"Henh henh hehn... _KYA HA HA HA! _How amusing!" Those laugh again. Those filthy laugh again. Disgusting. Light knew the voice, the same voice that belonged to the man that had touched him-

_Bang_. Again, Light shot. The laugh went louder echoing in the dark. Bang. Light swore he would stop that laugh. The killer would feel bullet going through his head. Bang. Bang. Three times, four times, Light blindly shot. Piercing through the dark, the fragment omitted by gun powder danced in the air and rolled above his head.

_Click. Click. _Light fell to his knees, the gun slipped from his hand, the ammunition ran out.

But those laughs didn't stop.

"KYA HA HA HA! You...with your pathetic attitude...do you really think you can win from L...?"

That was it. Blinding by indescribable emotion, Light rushed to the source of the laughter. He caught something; he couldn't see what it was in the darkness. But he didn't have to guess the warm texture from cloth and muggy sweat. Light grabbed someone's arm and yanked hard, throwing the opponent off balance. Someone's groan, it wasn't L's voice, Light had the right target.

"FUCK YOU." Light screamed and blindly punched. He heard the killer groan and the sound of a body hitting the floor. Wasting no time, Light hurriedly kicked the fallen man. But a strong hand caught his ankle; Light gasped and fell down.

Sensing the killer would kick him in return, Light shifted his weight to his back leg and swept his leg around to plow into the opponent. He missed, but it didn't matter. He heard a hard hit from above. Probably L had stood up and kicked the killer's back, before he was able to hit to Light who was under him. The killer rolled away from Light and got up.

_Kill him! Hit him!_ Those words shivered through Light's brain as he sprang up and ran forward. Punch. Kick, round kick, side kick. Contact. Light was sure the edge of his foot landed right on something, probably the low part of the killer's stomach. A groan again, not too loud.

The killer staggered backward, he said in breathless tone, "It tickled, more please, Kira-sama."

"Don't listen to him." L's sharp voice.

Light's heartbeat throbbed in his ears with a dull roar, it muted L's warning completely. His face felt hot as he sucked air desperately to calm himself.

A shaky laugh. "Oh? We'll see. Do your best to entertain me, _Kira-sama_."

Light launched his knuckles straight into the unseen venomous smile. He missed.

Next Light felt a fist landed on his cheek, he fell back and rolled on the ground. Reflexively he curled up and crossed his hand to protect himself, he predicted the killer would hit him. Wrong. He heard another groan above him. It seemed that L had pulled the killer away from him, and the loud slap of flesh echoed.

If L had life principle that said 'once is once', then Light had his own that was far tighter than 'once is once.' Light, in fact, didn't want to lose, he wouldn't let L _intentionally_ help him again_. _He didn't want to show gratitude. Following his instinct, Light kicked. He got someone, and he didn't know why a relieved feeling burst out every time he heard a groan which didn't belong to L. He hit again, another moan. The killer fell off, his black outline buckled when he expelled the air Light had knocked out of him.

_Hit him! Kick him! _Light tried to kick again, it missed again.

This was a death match. In the darkness, Light didn't care to whom he would land his hit on. He didn't care even though it was L he hit. He moved only with his instinct. L was always his nemesis. Light's feelings wouldn't change even though he knew L's frail condition tonight. If he unintentionally hurt L in the dark, he would regard that as an accident.

It wasn't clear whether a punch or a kick that blew on him. Light staggered backward with a groan. Someone grabbed him by his collar and threw him down. Struggling and kicking uselessly, Light raised his fist and tried to punch. The killer's cocked foot drove into his stomach, Light widened his eyes and screamed his pain.

The next thing came was a gasp, the killer released Light and moved away from him. Someone – L, again – pulled the killer roughly from behind.

Scrambling to his feet, Light tried to suppress the pain that burned his chest and stomach. His mouth tasted like rust and acid, blood, he spat it out. Taking a breath, he felt the air thickening with evil.

Laughing like a lunatic with a mind-blowing secret, the killer seemed to spring to his feet and charge at L instead of Light. Another crack sound and a painful shriek. The scream was loud, at the same time was faint. It was distorted and hard to recognize, but Light knew it came from L.

"Ryuuzaki!" Light called. The killer was probably straddling L, so Light ran to the source of L's voice and kicked to the place he assumed as the killer's back. He got no one. He saw nothing but he knew the killer and L were standing again now. The next impact came from the wall at his left. Then at his right side and left again. With his foresight Light saw the killer was bumping L against the wall.

L's croaked voice rung, between groaning and shouting, and it grew weaker, and weaker. Light ran to the voices, he punched again and hit another empty air. L's voice sounded far, but at the same time near. The killer was dragging L farther from Light's reach on purpose.

He heard the door open at the end of the corridor. The emergency stairs on the left wing. The green neon light flashed above the door and blinked. Light sprang out and bolted towards it. The killer kicked the door open and dragged L to the stairs. The detective turned like a rag doll. Those black eyes tightly shut. L appeared unconscious.

"_L!"_

The emergency door was closed with a loud bang. Light's body bumped into its thick iron. It locked when he grabbed hold of the doorknob. Panicked, hammering at the door, Light shouted, "L!"

Beyond the thick door he heard noises, it sounded like a sack hitting the ground and rolling down the stairs. L...did he fall?

"_Does Kira-sama think he can get me_?" The killer's voice echoed inside, and his mocking laugh rippled through the thick door. "_Oh, I beg your pardon for my manners, my God, of course he can't."_

Gritting his teeth, Light kicked and banged on the door. "Bastard! Open up the door!"

"_Catch me, kill me if you can... Kira."_

Light turned around and and ran in the dark. It felt like cold wind piercing every pore of his hot skin; he shivered and clenched his teeth. His skin felt raw, hot and burning. He wasn't aware of the darkness around him, or the tension in his limbs. He saw red. He would explode. He was out of his mind.

When his body bumped against the unseen wall several times, Light decided to run along the wall. He thanked God for the appearance of the bright city. That was his only faint, weak source of light that came through the glass windows along the way when he passed through a dark corridor, before entering another corridor without light.

He ran. He kept on running. He must go down there. He would back to the lower floor and open the emergency stairs at the left wing. The sound of laughter reverberated through his mind, mocking the pain that burned in every pulse of his heart. He wouldn't let the killer mess up everything. He would kill him.

At that time Light was incapable to think clearly. He should run. He shouldn't be here. Why did he challenge death itself...?

His mind mixed up now. This tempestuous urge had beaten everything, even beaten Kira inside him. He was no longer himself. His goal was only one: to kill! He had to kill the killer! Kill the man who had messed up everything! Light wouldn't be satisfied if the man didn't die tonight. Kill him with the Death Note wouldn't satisfy him either. He wanted the killer shout when he sliced his skin, when he pierced his claw. He would break his bones and pulled his head out.

Probably Light didn't realize, for the first time, he hated someone this deep until his body moved out of control. The hate blinded him and destroyed all logical bulwarks he had built before.

One by one the aisles had been passed. The darkness suppressed him so overwhelming that he wanted to open his mouth and scream. But that scream, unfortunately, turned to a gasp.

Light fell to his knees and held an arm up to shield his eyes. The light blinded his eyes that had grown accustomed with the dark. His eyes felt sting and tears shone in the end of his eyelashes.

The electricity had turned on again. Lamps in the building were on again.

OOO

Slowly, Light opened his eyes. He couldn't believe it but the electricity really had turned on again. Indeed, it had completely turned on. Bright lights were everywhere. Light's mouth was hanging open in surprise, when he slowly stood up and blinked.

_The electricity has turned on...? W-what the hell?_

As if new energy flowed within his veins, Light lurched forward. He traced the wall with his hands along the way to ensure his safety, worried the electricity would shut down again. He didn't want to see how horrible his face must be, gawking with eyes wide open when he saw the illumination around him, on the floor, at the ceiling, as if he never saw light before.

He stopped for a while, groaning and wiping the blood off his lips. The liberated pain in his shoulders, stomach and chest shot through his body, weakening him. His skin prickled, crawled, then shrunk. The surge of anger within his chest had dulled the pain. The bright light around him felt like neutralizing the darkness of his heart.

The game was over. Time to end all of this.

Ignoring the wound, Light ran again.

But it seemed the Goddess of Victory didn't smile kindly to him that night. Because when Light turned to the next corridor, he bumped into somethin—no, someone.

"ARRRGGGHHHH!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHH!"

Shouting in surprise, Light fell backward. And the person who bumped into him was also screaming, so loud that it didn't lose to Light's yell, and fell backward as well.

This time, Light didn't need the flashlight. He saw the body that bumped onto him, a figure with mouth widely opened, cold sweat and frightened face and short black hair, and navy blue suit...

...and that was none other than Matsuda Touta, a police, his father's and his own colleague, one of the task force.

"Ma...Matsuda-san." Light breathed, widening his eyes.

"R-Raito-kun?" Matsuda replied in a whisper, his voice so hoarse. He looked at Light between his opened legs.

"Matsuda! What was that yell? Do you find—RAITO!"

Next, Soichiro Yagami appeared at the end of the corridor. That man was running toward Light immediately. Aizawa and Mogi ran behind him. Their faces were frantic and confused. "RAITO! Oh God! Are you all right, son? Hang on, Raito!"

"Otou-san," Light whispered heavily his throat hurt, his eyes still widening. He never thought that he was able to see their faces again.

"Raito-kun, hang on! Which one is hurt? I'll take care of it right now!" Aizawa knelt beside him. Light realized what they were so worried about. Actually, his clothes were stained with blood, and his face and eyes swollen and bruises everywhere.

Mogi knelt as well, his face pale and sweaty. "Chief! We'd better take Raito-kun out of here! We split into two teams, the other team searches for Watari and Ryuza-"

Something hit Light.

"Rather than me... Ryuuzaki... we must help him..." Light said while trying to get up. Aizawa gave him a hand and he stood upright. "He was at the emergency stairs, Otou-san, with the attacker that intruded the building," he whispered in fabricated anger, his eyes flashed when he said those words.

Aizawa and Soichiro exchanged a quick glance.

"Well, the situation was confusing." Soichiro fixed his glasses' position. The permanent crease across his forehead was joined by several tension lines. "When we were only following the noise we heard. We tracked it down until we reached this level. We don't understand why the lamps suddenly turned on. And then, we heard Matsuda shouted and we found you, Raito." Soichiro shook his head, and the others around him bent down, holding their guns. Their faces were dead serious.

"How could you all get in here?" Light asked.

"It's all thanks to Matsuda's report," replied Mogi, and all faces turned to Matsuda, who was wiping his sweat. "He was here before and saw something... unnatural, so he called us all."

Light blinked. "What? Matsuda-san...how could you..."

Matsuda sighed. His hand slided out of the pocket, loaded with the pistol. "There was something I left here, actually. I intended to take it back and when I got here, the main gate was just left open, and electricity ran out. I went up to the 13th floor to L and Raito-kun's room, since I thought probably one of you was there, and in the bathroom..."

So the one shouting at the lower floor when Light was attacked at the emergency stairs was Matsuda.

_Wait... so the door at the base floor has already been opened... since the begin-_

Light felt shiver through his brain. He went limp, his head spinning. This was totally illogical. How could it be? Why did everything seem so... almost too... flawless? Matsuda could enter the building because the door had been opened since the beginning, meanwhile Light—

No.

What did the killer want?

What did the killer want from him and Matsuda?

...Alibi?

...there was something... a big scheme behind all this. The killer wanted something, but it wasn't only L's death, or just a sickening mind games. No. He wanted something bigger. Everything had been going _too _smooth. Everything had been going as planned, probably since the beginning.

The killer didn't want L.

He wanted something beyond their imagination, beyond L.

"_He only loves to play—I will protect you—You must get out of here at once-"_ Even L's dialogues... were probably the part in the killer's script...

...for only one goal, which was still unknown to Light.

This was mind mutilation. The killer tried to kill him from the inside out. In this point, although L was the greatest mind in the world, the killer might have reached something beyond the mind itself, he had reached the core to destroy the greatest mind in the world. Every human had their biggest weakness, the most dark and deepest part in his heart that nobody could reach.

"_Kira-sama."_

What would happen to you if someone destroy that deepest part of yours?

You would lose your mind.

You might fall into the realm of madness.

You might be dead, living and walking inside the hard shell, but brainless.

You became nothing.

"In my opinion, it'd be better if Raito get out of here right now. This is a very dangerous situation," Aizawa spoke his mind, which others directly agreed. "We don't know how much the enemy are, even though we are five in number, we shouldn't be careless."

"No, the intruder is only one person. I'm sure about that, Otou-san, I have met him," Light took steps forward, toughness etched across his face; the face of Light Yagami they all adored when he was innocent. "And our priority now is Ryuuzaki. We must catch up with them soon. I'm all right now, please let me join you."

Soichiro's eyes softened, he gently patted Light's shoulder, looking proud. "You had grown, Raito."

"Right! Let's find Ryuuzaki together! We wouldn't be able to do anything without Raito-kun!" Matsuda returned to his normal state, always spirited. Although his face was still pale and-

A bang sound again, came from the left wing of the building. It sounded like a crash.

Without waiting for any command, they started to move. Light ran first as the guide. He knew the direction to the emergency stairs where the killer and L were. There they would find the detective, for sure.

"Turn left!" Light shouted. Darkness had sharpened his instinct, and made him obtain clearer memories about direction. "Right!"

They arrived at the corridor. Here it was; the corridor where three of them fought in the darkness. At the end of the corridor, there were holes in the wall caused by Light's blind shots before.

But it didn't matter anymore. The killer should have taken L's life. Light would approach the corpse and take the Death Note with him, and they would get out of here.

"The door's locked, Chief! I'll shoot it!" Stepping backward, Matsuda lifted the gun and aimed at the doorknob. His shot was always right at the bull's eye.

Without wasting any time they broke through immediately. At the third smash the door was opened. They entered, Matsuda and Mogi first, and almost fell off into the room together. Their guns lifted high, ready to attack anyone inside.

The emergency stairs was empty. No sounds. No people. They held a defensive position. Cautiously, Soichiro stepped inside. Matsuda had walked downstairs, and then he gasped in surprise.

L, Ryuuzaki was down there, curled up before the stairs. His face was unseen, curtained by his hair, which seemed messier than usual. His clothes wet and dirty, like a poor beggar who got caught in the rain and was sleeping beside the trash can.

"Ryuuzaki!"

Immediately they approached the dead body on the ground, Light walked slowly behind them, keeping his gaze on L's face. Kneeling down, Mogi gathered L with his arm and checked his pulse. The detective was easily lifted, weak, powerless like a rag dol. His face was unbelievably pale. W-Was L really died? Light barely recognized the detective face, it was too-

"His pulse is weak but he's still alive!" Mogi declared.

"Ryuuzaki! We must take him to the hospital-"

"_Nnh."_

Slowly, the corpse opened his eyes, greeting their pale and shocked faces with his dead eyes. L blinked two times, before his eyes completely opened.

"Mogi-san." L's voice was so hoarse and it was alien to Light's ears. It sounded like it wasn't the usual L. So pathetic.

"Ryuuzaki! Oh my God you're all right! We were so worried about you!"

"Hurry, take him up, we don't know where the enemy is. As far as we could-"

"_No need."_

That voice. That commanding voice they usually heard every morning. Mogi was taken aback as he let go of the body from his grasp. What was this? Something didn't feel right. Meanwhile L had completely stood up now. Calmly, he tried to climb the stairs alone, without their help.

It felt a little different from usual.

They exchanged pitying glance to one another, and went out from the emergency stairs. L walked forward, still in his normal pose. He was hunched as always but wobbled more than usual. Light kept silent when L tripped up and almost fell. Aizawa caught and supported the wounded man from behind.

"Ryuuzaki, we'd better get out of here right now!"

"Watari...I want Watari," L stubbornly replied and shrugged away, his face unnaturally composed.

"No way! We must save you right now, I am sure Watari is fine now, leave him to us! We will find him for you."

"I-"

"Calm down, Ryuuzaki. I am sure that Watari is all right! This electricity surely is also Watari's work as well."

"No!" L snapped, clearly he hated to be ordered by others. "This is my business, and there is nothing to do with you all."

Soichiro sighed and stepped forward. "Listen Ryuuzaki, you must get out of here. If something happened to you then Watari would-"

"**Ryuuzaki**!"

A heavy voice cut them off. Immediately, they turned to the source of that voice that came from the end of the corridor. Light's pupils dilated.

An old man in black coat with a gun in his hand. Watari stared at them from behind his glasses. His old face was white and pale, a surprised look on his face.

"Watari!" L shouted rather animatedly. He freed himself from Aizawa. Half running, he staggered towards Watari like a lost child who had just met his father.

Behind L, they glanced at one another. Matsuda was watching the nauseating reunion with mouth widely opened, and then grinned in peace. Light rolled his eyes, but then, he blinked. There was something that seemed... a little bit... strange.

L stumbled along the way and ended grabbing the old man's coat. Watari seemed surprised and stepped backward.

Watari. His face was pale, shocked and... disbelieving. He looked at L under his nose as if the detective wasn't real. His face darkened as he took steps backward.

"Ryuuzaki," Watari muttered under his breath.

"Watari, I am glad you're all right," L said, taking a step forward to reach Watari. "I thought you have... died, Watari, I was so..."

Watari didn't react, his expression remained the same. L was showing his back to them so Light couldn't see his face, but he knew probably the detective's face must be emotional. Ah, Watari was more than just a babysitter, of course.

The old man sighed, looking down at L from behind his glasses. His expression couldn't be read at all. "I am all right, Ryuuzaki. Rather than me, you'd better worry about your safety," he gently assured and touched L's shoulders.

"Watari, thank God you're all right." Soichiro came from behind them. "With this, we all are complete, we should leave this place at once-"

"No." L turned to them, staring straight at Soichiro with his dominating style. "Forgive me, Yagami-san, but everything that happened in this building is my responsibilities and Watari's. I do not want to involve outsider. You must save yourself."

"But Ryuuzaki! We are one team! Even though this is your private problem, but if something happened to you, then how about us? What should we do with the case? We must take your safety as our first priority!"

"What Matsuda said was right, Ryuuzaki. We must get out of this place first then we can think about what step we should take next. We are one unity. You-"

"_I said, NO!"_

For a moment, everyone stood undecided and shocked. L's intonation... wasn't common. No, not his voice, but his face... although he was giving order, Light didn't remember that L's face could be so... so...

"Ryuuzaki."

Silence for a while, until Watari cleared his throat. Taking a few steps forward, he bowed respectfully to everyone. "First, I would like to ask for your forgiveness. What had happened was beyond our control."

They exchanged glances at each other. Light stayed silent when L walked away.

Watari continued, "Everything that happened here is indeed something that shouldn't involve outsider. I thank everyone for your offer. But please understand us-"

"Where is _he_?" Light ignored Watari, his face stern, staring straight at L.

Watari went silent, L titled his head a little and said, "He's gone."

"What?"

"You tell me," L defensively replied, "He left me in emergency stairs. But since Watari has turned on the electricity, that means he couldn't leave the building easily. Probably he is somewhere down there, trapped." He simply finished and looked away.

Light supressed the urge to bash the other man. Another lies and lies from L.

Soichiro shook his head and massaged his forehead. Matsuda and the others were looking at one another, worried. Light lowered his face, acting as if he sighed a deep, long breath, his face messed up as well.

"All right. Please be careful. I am sorry we can't be more of help. I pray for your safety, Ryuuzaki." Soichiro stepped forward and held L's shoulders.

L nodded slowly, a thumb in his mouth. "Thank you. Forgive my rudeness. I do not want you all to get involved in this. Thank you for your understanding."

"I will guide you to the shortcut so you all could get out without having to go through the cellar," Watari said, turning around with a gun in his hand. "Forgive us for the inconvenience. The secret path is probably uncomfortable for you all to go through. Please bear with it."

Watari ran in the lead. They followed him. Light rolled his eyes, and put on a serious face when Soichiro glanced at him, a worry etched across his face. There was only one thing in Light's mind: after this he surely would come to Misa. He would tell her of how Rem tried to ensnare him.

_Rem...! _Light swore he would do anything to get his revenge. At least, there was the Death Note that belonged to the second Kira. He could kill Misa, of course. However, the girl was useful as Kira's tool. Tool, huh. This wasn't an irony. Misa's total submission was a noble act... although the girl had taken Kira's name without permission, and for worse, killed innocent people.

They came into a room through a door, a room that Light entered with L before. The room where he left L fighting with the killer. Now the cube was bright with the lighting around the room. Light could see the remains of the fight before; broken table, sugar candy shattered, the laptop that was left open - one was broken on the table, chairs scattered everywhere in the room, and also blood. There were several stains of blood on the metallic door, which he was quite sure was made while they were fighting.

L was still alive. When Light left him, he thought it was the last time he saw the pale man. But there he was, L, standing healthily in front of them all, with his chin slightly lifted with pride.

At the corner of the room there was a wall. Not just a common wall. There was a switch, and several codes that should be entered first, and then there would be the next wall, like a rolling door to a dark aisle.

The secret door opened, and a staircase down emerged with its green emergency lights on the floor as the guide. Light didn't know how much staircases were down there.

"Come on in, from here we will head straight to the exit of this building," Watari said.

"So we separate here?" Mogi stepped forward.

"No, I will lead you until you're all safe. It is alri—"

_DUM!_

They fell silent.

_DUM! DUMDUMDUM...! DUM!_

Light gasped, spinning around. The tapping sounds seemed to come from below. So loud.

"Hurry!" L shouted, "Quick!"

Almost simultaneously they bolted towards the secret passage. Watari was the first one, then followed by L. As for Light, he was frozen in his place, rolling his eyes around the ceiling, as if he could see the source of those terrible sounds.

_DUM! DUMDUMDUM! DUM!_

"Raito!" Soichiro's scream came into his ears. "Rai—too!" The man's voice was muted by the tapping sounds.

Someone pulled Light's arm with force. Turning around, he saw L's angry face. All the muscles in his face contorted into a painful knot, and his teeth clenched. Light glared at him and parried L's hand.

"Raito!" L put his hand on his shoulder. Light shook it off again. Moving forward, L caught his wrist in return and dragged him to the door.

_DUM! DUMDUMDUM! DUM!_

"Raito!" Soichiro called him again, this time, it woke Light up. He blinked a few times. "Raito, quick!"

"L-let me go!" Light yelled at L when the other man insisted on dragging him. Immediately he ran to the stairs, following his father and his companions. He pretended not to look when L ran behind him.

L closed the door behind them. The secret passage was darker than before. Light followed the green neon under his legs, the only guide for his way. Running down the stairs with top speed, Light felt his shoes slipped and a few times he thought he would fall. Besides L who ran behind him, he couldn't see the other polices.

_DUM...!DUM!_

The tapping sounds still echoed. At the moment, the earth where he stood vibrated. Light gulped, his hands felt so cold he couldn't stop them for shaking. He bit his lips, anger struck him when he realized L was running behind him, and the other man must have felt his sweat trailed on that metallic banister.

"We are almost there!" Watari's voice came from below. Light quickened his stride, even faster when he felt L's sweater in his back. He scowled between disgust and anger.

A few staircases passed, finally, he stepped on the flat ground again. A long, straight corridor was before him. The ceiling, the walls which surrounded it were black. But the lighting was fair enough here. Even though it was just a faint light, Light was able to see others' faces.

"Is everyone okay?" Matsuda asked, on the contrary, it was his face that was the palest among the others.

Light and L walked forward. Soichiro, still panting, nodded toward them with a confirming look, reassuring that everyone was all right. He turned his head and looked at the end of the corridor. Aizawa was walking towards Watari.

"That is the exit." Watari pointed at the thick door at the end of the corridor. Yes, there was only one door standing there, even a kindergarten child knew that was the exit. "And you will be arrived in an underground sewer. You just follow the sign along the way and you will see a ladder. It will bring you to a small alley a few yards from this building. Please forgive us for the inconvenience."

"Its all right, Watari! We are already grateful for this route."

"Right! This is like an adventure! I never crawl up from an underground sewer, it feels like-"

"Matsuda! This is not a game!"

"Sorry Chief..."

"Hahaha! You never change in any condition Matsuda! But this-"

_DUM! DUM!_

They fell silent, Matsuda's laughter turned dreadful. Their faces turned serious again. Light glanced cautiously at his father.

"Ryuuzaki," Soichiro turned to L, worry printed across his wrinkled face. Light never truly realized the fact that, even though L was his superior, Soichiro always considered him like a son, perhaps because of L's physique that made him look the same age as Light. "Be careful. Please take care of yourself well. I hope we'll meet again tomorrow."

"I'm all right. No need to worry," L replied, his face returned into expressionless. But who knew what was festering under the mask.

No one looked convinced.

L continued, "I promised we will meet again tomorrow. Everything will go on as usual. And I request you to forget all this, Soichiro-san." Next to him, Watari nodded.

"Keep that promise." Soichiro held out his hand. "We will meet again tomorrow, and everything will be all right. Our phones will be active for you; do not hesitate to inform us, if you will."

For a moment, L stared at the outstretched hand and blinked. Light recalled they shook hands before when he decided to work in L's investigation team. The detective's hand was cold. L raised his hand, almost unwillingly, and shook hands with Soichiro.

Light moved forward. "Ryuuzaki, I think the best way is for you to go with us."

"I already said that this wasn't your business. Even if I am hurt, it is none of your business."

Glaring with hatred at the man that stared calmly at him, Light grabbed L by his shoulders. The detective went tense for a moment, alerted, and raised his hand to clutch on Light's wrists.

"Yagami-kun!" Aizawa shouted behind him.

Soichiro grabbed Light's elbow. "Raito! What are you-"

Not heeding any of them, Light almost lifted the man by his collar. He put up a complete serious face.

"I know you're a stubborn man but at least take care of your own wounds first! You are wounded badly!" Light said, getting a rush of nausea at those words

"I'm not hurt-"

Light pushed the other man against the wall. L gasped; Light knew moving his body was painful for the detective, but he didn't care. He heard people gasp behind him. They tried holding him back, but Light refused to stop. Quickly he lifted L's sweater. Look at that, he would show them swollen abdomen, inner bleeding, broken ribs with red, blue, purple bruises-

_...wha-what is this?_

"Raito-kun! What are you, w-what happened? Ryuuzaki?"

L was silent, staring at Light, his expression monotone. His eyebrows moved an infinitesimal bit, almost as if mocking Light, he shot a glare. "Are you done with your playing?"

"Ryuuzaki," Light said, his throat choking back most of the name. "...your wounds." Taking another look in disbelief, his eyes roamed over the skin under the sweater.

Suddenly, Light felt his face turning red.

"What is it, Raito-kun?" Matsuda moved forward, confused as he followed where Light was looking. He bent down and observed L's abdomen under illumination, inspecting together. Matsuda sighed, relieved, the creases in his forehead iron out. "Only minor bruises on Ryuuzaki's stomach and chest! Nothing serious, Ryuuzaki!"

_No!_

Light caught L's wrist, knowing the man was hurt badly there. He heard the sound of bones breaking in their fight-

"You wish something more of me?"

Now it was L's turn to push himself away from Light, with his chin slightly raised and eyes stared sharply at the teenager. 'Are you done with your playing?' those eyes appeared to say that.

Light glared at L, then flickered down to the other man's wrist, and then up to the neck. Not a second later, fear gripped his face. Panicked, Light turned to L's face. What welcomed him was a cold, bottomless dark eyes. Light stepped back unconsciously, shaking his head in disbelieve. He shuddered, more from horror than rage now. Their eyes locked on each other.

"Sorry Ryuuzaki, Raito-kun was only worried about you," Mogi defended him, but Light was entirely unhappy. "Its good that you're okay, we were worried."

L brought his thumb to his lips, biting his nails hard. "No problem. Now I ask all of you to leave this place. We will meet again tomorrow morning."

Watari nodded behind him, his lips creased a soft smile, which Light suspected was a fake. However, at the next second, they fell silent again. The drumbeats came again.

"All right, we will leave this place. Watari, Ryuuzaki." Soichiro looked at them a few moments, before heading to the exit. The others stopped for a moment to look at Ryuuzaki and Watari, their faces giving the impression that it would be their last meeting.

_DUM! DUMDUMDUM! DUM!_

Light stood still by the door. Nausea crawled along the walls of his stomach, he felt like vomiting again.

"Raito! Quickly!" Aizawa's voice roared.

Reflexively, Light turned around to see L. The detective was leaning against the wall, both hands in his pocket. His eyes were far away, staring blankly at Light, no, but at the door behind him. Behind L was Watari, the old man was lowering his face for a few seconds, his face was calm, but the pale hue of his face couldn't trick him. He raised his face and stared at Light. Watari mumbled something like 'be careful, Yagami-kun, leave quickly' but Light couldn't grasp it clearly. His ears were still ringing.

_DUM! DUMDUMDUM! DUM!_

A few moments later, finally, he met the midnight eyes of L. Under the loud background noise of the drumbeats, they looked into each other's eyes, as if exchanging message silently, searching for something. Light said nothing, so did L. They just stared at each other.

L's lips parted, but it didn't produce any sound. Light read its movement: 'see you tomorrow.' And then, a small smile flickered across his face.

_DUM! DUMDUMDUM! DUM!_

_DUM! DUMDUMDUM! DUM!_

Light stared at L's lips for the last time, and finally turned around. Everything seemed like a slow motion again at the moment. Light ran to the exit, towards his freedom. He followed Soichiro and the rest, who kept calling him from afar and waving their hands at him. He ran along the sewer, following Soichiro who flashed the light in the passageway, which he knew led only to one place. A ladder attached to the wall led up to an alley a few yards from the building. Light sped up his steps, waiting his turn to go up the metallic ladder, and he didn't hesitate any longer when he started to climb.

He didn't look back at all.

_DUM! DUMDUMDUM! DUM!_

Holding back on the ladder so his eyes were level with the alley ground, Light inhaled deeply. Fresh air outside the building flooded his lungs, which instead made him cough several times. Soichiro put a hand on his shoulder while supporting him, the other polices were still panting, only Matsuda seemed energetic enough when he said his grace.

"Honestly. I couldn't believe we could get out."

"Is it okay to leave them like this, Chief?"

"I'm worried about them as well, Aizawa, but you know, this is L's private business, and we have no right to intervene."

"True, but-"

"It will be better if we wait until tomorrow comes, and as we promised, we will regroup in this building as if nothing happened."

"Yes, Mogi is right."

"Oi Raito-kun!" Matsuda shouted, waving his hands. "Let's go home! looks like it's going to rain soon!"

However, Light just stood there frozen in place. Frowning, he stared at the skyscraper with an empty gaze. The drumbeats could still be heard, even outside the building. Even the passers-by in the dark alley seemed confused, turning their heads around looking for the source of the sound.

_DUM! DUMDUMDUM! DUM!_

Back then, Light wasn't paying attention, now he realized it. As a gust of cold wind passed through his every pore, he shivered.

_DUM! DUMDUMDUM! DUM!_

Drops of water began falling, like snow drops falling from the darkness. Light looked up amidst the thick walls of a small alley. He stared at the looming gigantic tower above his head, listening to the sounds from the inside of the building.

_DUM... DUMDUMDUM... DUM..._

_DUM... DUMDUMDUM... DUM..._

Dum. Dumdumdum. Dum. This was obviously creating a pattern...

...

_DUM... DUMDUMDUM... DUM..._

_..._

**S**... **O**... **S**...?

OOO

_Marking _6th January 2005_ with a red, round circle on a new calender hung at the painted peeled wall beside the stained bed, L sighed softly._

"_They have assumed she was sexually assaulted before he went on killing. She was found naked in her repulsively blood-spattered bed." L's voice, clear and dull, echoed in the room. He tapped his finger on the crime scene photo. "Even so, the forensic team didn't find any physical evidence of rape, and this is amusing, they found another fact the woman was a patient of GreenBridge Mental Hospital in New Zea-"_

_Alice was silent. He felt dizzy all over. He had just arrived in wonderland again. He met up with Cheshire cat on his journey, the cat grinned at him every time he spoke. And he was close to Mad Hatter's place, he tasted tea on his tongue. But now he was laying on the bed._

"_—So what do you think of this, Alice? Don't you agree?" L asked._

"_Hyuk hyuk hyuk! I can see that as well!" someone with a strange voice commented beside them, Alice couldn't see him._

_Alice hardly heard any voices at all._

"_Alice," L called him._

"_Hyuk Hyuk Hyuk!"_

_Alice was silent, keeping his head down. His eyelids heavy. He was going to fall again._

"_Alic-"_

"_No. No, sorry. I'm afraid no, I can't hear any voices."Alice managed to speak, and then coughed softly. He tasted bitter in his mouth._

"_...yes you are..." L nodded to himself, observing Alice's condition with his critical eyes._

"_Hyuk Hyuk Hyuk!"_

_Alice thought he might be falling into that rabbit's hole again. Cheshire cat must be waiting for him. His teacup was left forgotten as well, and he had not found the rabbit yet. He missed wonderland badly. The sky. The forest. The wind. So he began to close his eyes._

"_When you wish upon a star, makes no different who you are..."_

_Alice heard someone singing, probably L, but he was no longer there._

When he opened his eyes again, he was in the middle of the deep forest.

Before him was a little house. A long table set out under a big tree. Two person were having a tea at it, they must be March Hare and Hatter.

Alice walked towards the table, and casually sat on the one of empty chairs.

"Have some wine," the March Hare said with nonchalance, sipping his tea.

Alice looked all round the table, he saw nothing on it but tea. "Forgive me but I don't see any wine."

"True. There isn't any." The March Hare nodded at him, putting down his tea cup.

"Then it wasn't very civil of you to offer it," Alice said.

"And it wasn't very civil of you to sit down without being invited," the March Hare countered.

Alice narrowed his eyes, his expression monotone. "Pardon me but I didn't know it was your table as it's laid for a great many more than three."

"You hair wants cutting," Hatter suddenly commented, looking at Alice's hair, then bellowed a laugh. He had been looking at Alice with great curiosity all the time.

"I beg your pardon, but I believe you should learn not to make personal remarks" Alice said, his face stern.

The Hatter widened his eyes on hearing this, but all he said was, "Why is a raven like a writing-desk?"

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**TBC**

**I just realised this fic has a lot of sound effects BANG and DUM in it... also how many times of the name of 'Ryuuzaki!' were called!**

**Umm... I forgot to tell you the first six chapters are actually the beginning of the story. All mysteries will be revealed soon, but from this chapter, I know you can make speculations by yourself. Who is Alice, B's real aim, the sos signal and everything.**


	8. Chapter 8

**November 5, 2004 was a Friday, according to the international calendar.**

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_Chapter four_

**Chess**

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The nightmares grasped him.

When he closed his eyes, like a broken videotape, the memories of him running amid darkness repeated over and again. The darkness was as maddening as he remembered. Cold wind sliced across the dark hallway and seeped into his skin. He kept running, stumbled and fell to the ground. Coughing a few times, he tasted blood after each convulsion.

_DUM DUMDUMDUM DUM!_

"And you think you can beat L?_ Kyahahahaha!"_

Madness.

Light woke screaming, hands clenching on the white sheet, his heartbeat rapid in his ears and his chest. He opened his eyes, still hazy with drowsiness. Sweat poured down his forehead and his body ached.

For a moment, he stayed there unmoving, lying on his back. The beam of sunlight shined down from the window, seemingly trying to calm him down, if not mocking him.

It had been a few months since he last saw his bedroom. The analogue clock blinked and showed 6.30 A.M. A small calendar on the desk remained untouched – October, 6th was the only visible date on the list. He opened the drawer and found a diary smiling back at him. That wasn't what he was looking for. He pulled out a pen, plugged it into a hidden hole and watched a secret drawer slide open.

Empty.

So.

Light had failed. Rem deceived him. Misa's notebook was the temporary trump card, but his promise to watch over the woman was a tough bargain. There was a piece of the Death Note in his watch. He could kill Misa to show Rem who had control in the game. But a reckless act would cause new problems to emerge.

_There's still hope_, whispered the little angel within his heart. In the end, L lived. In the end, the bastard detective had fulfilled his promise. He was waiting for the investigation team in the building this morning. This was a good beginning for a new plan. Light would try to get close to L, just as he did last night. They weren't tied to each other anymore, although the connection between them was still as strong as a three-foot chain.

Before meeting with Misa to reconstruct his plan, Light decided to meet L first.

Feeling the hot water massaging his body, Light sighed. It was as if he hadn't taken a bath for weeks. Recalling how dirty he was last night, he believed that scrubbing his body a hundred times wouldn't be enough to wash all the dirt. Filthy blood. Disgusting. The murderer's laughter rang through his ears. Light's hand flew to his mouth, suddenly feeling nauseous.

L would take responsibility with his death, or anything that could soothe his rage.

Walking downstairs, Light forced himself to put on a normal face. He knew Soichiro was still asleep, considering he said that he felt sick last night, and that he had to find L in his eerie building the whole night. The welcoming scent of breakfast wafted from the kitchen. It must be Sachiko Yagami, always the earliest person in the Yagami family to wake up.

"Morning, Oka-san," murmured Light and he stepped into the room. His eyebrows lifted as he saw another woman in the room. "Sayu, you're already awake."

"Raito-niisan!" Sayu greeted him with the brightest smile Light had ever remembered. It had been a few months since he last saw the girl's face. Sayu's small arms wrapped around his waist. "Ah, Onii-san! I haven't seen you in a few month, and you've become so skinny. Did you work really hard? Did they even feed you? Wait, you stayed with Misa-chan, didn't y- _umph!"_

"Shut up, Sayu." Light pushed Sayu away, squeezing her cheeks and laughing. He walked to the table, put his jacket on a chair and grabbed the newspaper. "As a young woman you must watch what you eat. Go on a diet, fat girls can't be brides."

"What are you saying? But I'm still growing up and it's different with Onii-san, you're a guy!" Sayu whined, showing her tongue to Light, who only laughed. Sayu's attitude hadn't changed even though she was already in high school.

Sachiko, who came in carrying a tray, also laughed. A smile was on her face. "It's been a long time since we ate together, Raito. I was so happy last night when your father told me that you'd finally come back and stay with us. You look thinner."

"Onii-san's already an adult, right! I bet while he was away he already prepared an apartment for Misa-chan and himself!" Sayu chuckled and grabbed a teen magazine from the table. Her eyes twinkled and her chubby cheeks blushed pink, a typical woman of her age. "Ahh, Misa-chan _sugoi desu_! Look at this Onii-san, her picture in the cover is so cute! I watched her film with Hideki-kun last night. You have to be careful, Onii-san, you're great but there's no one on earth who could beat Hideki Ryuuga."

"Oh, Is that true, Raito?" Sachiko tilted her head in curiosity, her gaze flickering downward on the magazine Sayu was holding. "Then you should think more seriously about your relationship with Misa-chan."

"O-Oi... Can you leave me and my relationship alone? I've never thought of it," Light replied, taking a piece of bread and strawberry jam. "Misa's very busy. She's a rising star and there's no time to think about stuff like that."

Sayu's eyes grew wider, now she looked like a puppy. "It's just a few months and Onii-chan has grown into a real man! Oh, crap, why haven't I gotten a boyfriend? Aw, this isn't fair."

"Hush, Sayu-chan. Your study is number one for now. Now finish your breakfast." Sachiko tapped Sayu on her shoulder. "You already have a promise with Chiyo-chan to work on your tasks together today, didn't you?"

Grumbling for a few moments, Sayu put her magazine down and prepared her own breakfast.

"By the way, this is *Saturday morning and you're already awake, Raito. Where are you going?"

"I'll go to the police headquarters again, Oka-san." Light stopped for a while to swallow his food, and then continued calmly, "After that I'll go to the college. I'll catch up with the others, and, if it's possible, I'll start on Monday."

"I trust you, Raito. But you must take good care of yourself. I don't have any inkling on what happened to you last night. Your Father said you tried to help your friend until your clothes soaked in blood too but look at your face, even your cheeks have bruises."

For some occasions, Soichiro Yagami was an expert in lying. Light grinned. "It's all right Oka-san; I can take care of myself. You don't have to worry, I am big enough now."

"Oh, I'll get really _really_ angry at Soichiro if something happened to you again, that's for sure." Sachiko wiped the plates with the cloth she was holding and sighed. "And… we have talked about you last night. You have to continue your education as soon as possible. You are prohibited to take part in the investigation team anymore."

"What? But Oka-san! You can't do that, I've been too deeply involved in the investigation." Light rose from his chair. "Like father said, I won't stop unless the case is finished. I'll manage my time well enough, I won't leave my study. I'll take the consequences."

"You can't, Raito. We've reached a conclusion and this is for your own good." Sachiko glanced at him, worry etched onto her face. "Please understand, Raito. It's enough for me and Sayu to worry about your Father working so hard every day. It's as if he's toying with death. My heart almost skipped when your Father had a heart attack back then. This may be good for your future, but I don't want you to get involved before the time's right. You're still very young."

Light sank into his chair. Crossing his hands behind his back, he forced himself not to sigh in annoyance. Sachiko wasn't wrong, but Light couldn't stop what he had started. L was still alive, and the Death Note, he had to keep it before he quit. He could go to L's headquarters without anyone knowing after lectures ended, there's always time for that. But considering his father would always be with L in the headquarters, which was difficult. On top of that, L had declared that he already freed Light from the status as a suspect, although he still called him Kira.

If there was someone who had the power to allow him to stay in the investigation team, someone who even Soichiro wouldn't dare to go against, then that man would be-

"Fine, Oka-san, but allow me to go to the headquarters today. Otou-san will go with me as well. Has he woken up already?"

"It seems like he hasn't, Raito. He told me to wake him up at 8. Well, your Father's getting old. He looked extremely exhausted last night."

_And this morning I'll come to the man who holds responsibility for his tiredness, Oka-san._ "I suppose I should go now." Rising from the chair, Light threw a glance at his watch, and then he looked at Sachiko. "I'll take care of my school issues. Tell Otou-san I'm leaving."

"Take care Raito, Soichiro will catch up with you afterwards."

Light barely heard his mother's voice. Donning his jacket, he only nodded.

"Onii-san! Get home early today, Okay?" Sayu waved her hands cheerfully, her mouth full of bread. "Help me do my homework. There's a new topic at school I don't understand."

Light didn't pay attention to her; he had already walked outside the room.

XXX

Light intended to make a phone call first, to make sure if everything was all right. The instinct told him that L was currently sitting on his throne, as he would usually be, alive and breathing. But since Light's cell phone had broken, he decided to go to L's building. He would come only to prove L's promise, no more.

It took two train stations and L's skyscraper stood full of arrogance before his eyes. Stalwart and grandiose. The glass windows reflected sunlight, as if they were reflecting the owner's pride and ego. But considering last night's event, Light probably could act superior. The reason why he couldn't sleep last night was because he kept remembering L's face when he begged for his life.

Deep in his heart, there was a flicker of annoyance and a little anxiety. L didn't lie when he said that today the investigation would continue as usual, as if nothing happened the night before. Erasing all evidence at the scene, including all traces that might perturb his privacy, was L's expertise. If he was allowed to, Light was sure that L would have brainwashed him as well, to make Light forget what had happened last night. But it would be useless. Bruises on Light's body hadn't gone at all, and he was sure the scars would always be there until L died.

Light reached the door with the metal detector; the one he knew was broken a few hours ago. He could recall all the things, up to every detail of it. Now the door functioned normally. Light wouldn't be surprised if he found all the walls along the corridors had been wiped clean as well. There would only be less than 0.1% possibility the criminal left his fingerprint. Why would L hide something that clearly had happened in front of his eyes? Light was an eyewitness, would L also 'clean' him up because of this?

Thinking about that made him feel expectant. This morning he would meet the man who kissed his feet and subscribed him last night. He wouldn't let this encouraging feeling mix up with fear.

Brimming with confidence, Light stepped forward to the elevator. He didn't allow himself to glance at the emergency stairs.

XXX

The electronic door slid open, and the normal view of the investigation room welcomed him. Light's eyes swept every corner of it, looking for a threat. There was no residue from the shootout last night at the walls. Nor were there any flaws on the floor. Everything that happened last night, all evidences, had disappeared, as though it was an illusion.

Sitting with his back facing Light, L was on his chair. The laptop was under his nose. Both of his legs were folded, his chin on his knees. A few locks of hair fell over hiding his annoying face. But L's back seemed more hunched than usual. That was all the difference he showed.

For a few moments, Light let this serenity surrounded him. L was still alive. He sat there and nothing was missing from him. It seemed that L hadn't realized Light's arrival. This was still seven past thirty. The investigation team would gather at 8am or 9am. But Light was an exception. Since L imprisoned him in this place, he had already lost track of time.

"Ryuuzaki."

Silence.

"Ryuuzaki."

Still L didn't move.

Light decided to get closer to him. He walked slowly until he could touch the hunched back of the detective, who was breathing constantly. Light titled his head, taking a careful peek to L's face, which was buried between his arms and thighs. Those eyes were closed.

L was sleeping.

Light sighed, rolling his eyes in mocking gesture.

Pulling the chair nearest to the detective, Light sat down and crossed his legs. L's laptop was blinking but the screen showed nothing. Around the device were piles of sweets and snacks. Two pieces of bread, a bottle of strawberry jam and a bread-knife, a bottle of creamer and a cup of strong tea. Light's eyes rolled back to L's thin feature and frowned.

They had slept together in the same room, but it was the first time Light ever seen L in deep slumber. L's closed eyes, his slightly opened lips and the way L was breathing in a regular rhythm. It was funny seeing L that wasn't as alert as usual. L's body moved with each of his rhythmic breath. Light saw the flat belly move up and down under the white sweater. Faintly snoring, L's chest moved up and down, his hair was a mess falling over his face, sometimes it weakly danced every time he breathed. Various colors of bruises and wounds adorned L's skin as he breathed.

"_Please... help me."_

But it was nothing compared with all of these.

L moved a little, his bandaged wrist shook and his legs, which glued to his chest, trembled as well. A thick jacket covered Light's body; thick enough to overcome the low temperature in the room, which for unknown reason, felt colder than usual.

As if jolted by lightning, Light stood up. His eyes glowering down at his nemesis as he took off his jacket. Light blocked his own thoughts when he spread out the jacket, brought it closer and covered it around L's body.

Silence. Light looked down at his work, tilting his head as if he was examining the rabbits for his experiments. L wasn't awake, but his body stopped trembling, warm and protected.

Light sat back on to his chair. His legs spread now and his fingers entwined with his elbows, which were on his thighs. Staring at the sleeping L in silence, Light thought he would keep on looking until he got bored. But this strange phenomenon in front of his eyes dragged him further from boredom instead. Light imagined L's face with his eyes closed like the real L before him now, _but without the regular up and down movements on his chest_. He enjoyed L's sleeping face, would he also feel the same way when L died?

Suddenly the silence disappeared altogether with the coming of a groan from the detective's throat. Light narrowed his eyes.

"...Yagami?" L breathed.

L's eyelids weren't fully open when he suddenly lifted his head, a little abruptly. Dazed, he turned to see Light.

"You're awake," Light muttered. "I didn't intend to wake you up."

"No problem at all. It seems that I have fallen asleep," L whispered, scratching the back of his head like a monkey. He shook his head for a while to drive away the sleepiness; it reminded Light of a wet dog trying to dry itself. "Have you waited for long here?"

"I came just a few minutes ago," Light replied as he turned his chair around to face L fully. He put his chin on the table, giving the other man a thin smile.

L lifted his arms, inspecting the strange cloth which covered his body as a blanket.

"That's mine," Light explained. "It's cold today,"

L cleared his throat, expressing his agreement and removed Light's jacket from his body. "It's warm. My thanks, Yagami-kun."

It was funny to hear L saying thank you, but this was their routine platitude.

"Don't mention it." Light took his jacket back. "How are you?"

L's eyelids were half open when he slowly turned his face to Light. There was something different from L today. It was neither the tired expression on his face, nor his admittance of his inferiority.

"As you can see by yourself." L mumbled, slender fingers seeking for his caramel pudding. "I'm all right, Yagami-kun. What about you?"

Light stared cynically. For him now, L's pride was no thicker than... what? a tissue paper. "Oh." Light didn't realize the tone in his voice was higher than it should be, sharp and sarcastic. L was so weak that Light felt that he could break him using only a fingertip. He wondered if there was still any authority left in L now. "I'm fine, Ryuuzaki. The situation last night was out of my expectation."

L said nothing, his face went smooth and blank.

"So where is he?" Light's expression turned colder.

L stayed silent for a moment, and then said, "I should probably ask Watari to bring me another cup of coffee. Has Yagami-kun had a breakfast?"

"Don't avoid the conversation," Light snapped, his chest burning with sudden rage.

Unexpectedly, L's lips spread into a wide grin. "And to me, rather than acting like a child, you act like a woman, Yagami-kun."

"What?"

Ignoring Light's surprised look, L continued, "Like a typical woman who loves to blabber about the problems which are already settled. And that's just a waste of time, as a matter of fact."

"Do you take me as a fool!" Light rose from his chair, landed a punch on the table. Plates and cups shook, a few round candies rolled over the table and fell to the ground, L's eyes followed their movement. "After all he's done to me, you think I'll let him go that easily? Do you want me to believe that he's already left this place? What he said to me last night, he surely would co-"

L shrugged and looked away. "Whatever and wherever he is now, he is not going back, Yagami-kun. And even if he's back, it's none of your business."

"You-"

The door slid open.

Watari came in, bringing a small tray with a cup of coffee and a porcelain teacup. His face was a mask of composure. He and L were no different at all.

Light threw himself on the chair. As if anger wasn't expressed enough on his face, Light added a hoarse laugh. "You may be right, Ryuuzaki. But what would you call a man who had given a promise and then pretended he forgot it, or a man who licked other's feet but then said that never happened? Isn't he supposed to be called, what? A 'woman'."

"Yagami-kun," L said, a shadow crossed his expression. "Couldn't you just forget what happened last night?"

"There was a man who promised me to tell everything when he met with me this morning," Light replied, infuriated, after he saw Watari disappeared behind the door. He crossed his arms and legs, and let out a deep breath.

L titled his head. "And is that promise very important to you?"

"I don't know. Even though I don't want to know about it, a promise would still be a promise." Light raised his voice, but ended it with a whisper. "Unless if you do admit that you're not a man."

L went silent, his face still expressionless. Beyond Light's expectation, he suddenly said, "What about one round of chess game?"

Light blinked. "What?"

"Chess. This time, if Yagami-kun wins, he could ask me whatever he wishes to ask." L sipped his tea calmly.

"Then it's proven that your pride has indeed fallen so low, Ryuzaki," Light grunted. Suddenly L's face, when he was begging, emerged in Light's mind and he almost couldn't stop himself from grinning even wider. "It's not that I want to say it...skeptically, but you've failed your own words. For me, that's more than enough to measure how big your pride is."

"I'm not denying my words." L shook his head. "I promised to tell you what's happening if we meet this morning, however, that doesn't mean you are in a position to force me to say it. I can fulfill my promise anytime I want to. And I'll do it after Yagami-kun defeats me in a chess game."

"Fair enough." Light's lips twitched. He had already won a few steps ahead, nothing to worry. "But don't you dare to expect me to look at you as someone with pride anymore, _L."_

"Whatever you want, Yagami-kun." L turned his face, giving Light a chance to grin. "I myself never cared about what people think about me. It would only be a waste of time. That includes nailing other's flaws, or fussing over something that has happened."

L stood up, both hands inside his jeans' pocket. He turned around and walked outside the room.

Light took his jacket and followed the other man, still grinning. "Fine with me as well. I can understand someone, who has showed how low his pride could go and then tried to break his promise too."

Light thought he would find L's cold expression to be filled with emotions, just like last night. He didn't know why but he wanted to see those expressions of L once again. But what he got this morning was disappointing.

"I'm probably not worthy enough for you anymore, Yagami-kun," L whispered, his face wasn't as expresionless as usual, but it wasn't full of emotions either. "I don't wish to try to become a subject who can satisfy Yagami-kun's ego. If he doesn't like to befriend someone like me, then he can get out of here and find another person he considers worthy."

The urge to kill L surfaced. Strangely enough, this time it wasn't anger that etched across Light's face, but it was something he simply couldn't explain. L was indeed someone who didn't pay much attention to his surroundings. He wasn't someone who would try to say something sweet to cover up his flaws. But Light never imagined that L would say something like that. Was it because he had already admitted his loss?

Someone he considered 'worthy'. What had happened last night made Light realize that L was no longer an opponent who can match him. He wasn't the L Light knew all this time. It seemed L had metamorphosed, not to become a butterfly, but to deteriorate into a rotten maggot. The detective was so low until Light pitied him and agreed on playing chess with him. Even if in the end he, unintentionally, lost the game, he wouldn't mind. His interest to solve the mystery now had gone, together with L's metamorphosis. Even if in the end Light succeeded in killing L, he probably wouldn't be overjoyed with that.

But another condition came up and L succeeded in wiping the smirk off Light's face.

"What did you say? Why would there be consequences if I lost?" Light glared at L, who was preparing the chessboard on the round table. "Stop acting childish, Ryuuzaki. This is not a part of the agreement."

"Yagami-kun has called me worthless trash. He said that I already lost my pride and couldn't keep a promise. Now I'm admitting that all those are true." L grabbed a bunch of black pawns, and put them one by one on the black and white spots of his own area. "True, I'm violating the agreement with this chess game. Knowing this, _if Yagami-kun doesn't have the courage_ to play a game of chess with me then go ahead. I won't force you to do that."

It backfired. L turned over the tables using Light's own bitter words. This wasn't amusing at all. Light had lost interest in L's game, but there was another risk if he ignored him. On second thought, L was still shining bright; it might be even harder to break his defenses down later.

_If Yagami-kun doesn't have the courage, _L said. It was an open invitation to start the game. It was something that Light couldn't resist. Well, let L does whatever he wanted to, just for a moment, before he died.

"All right. Let's begin," Light muttered impatiently. Taking a bunch of pawns in his hand, he helped L arrange the factions on their black-and-white war zone.

"Well, Yagami-kun can retreat before it's too late." L sounded like he was joking, but it didn't amuse Light at all.

Light frowned, showing only disgust and anger. "Why? Do you think, I should run away from a game with someone whom I already considered as worthless trash?"

L said nothing.

Amid his fury, Light didn'tnotice a tiny smirk curving on the detective's face.

**XXX**

The key to win in chess was to control the center; to take a quick victory. Both Light and L knew this principle.

The ticking sound of the clock was the background music for them. A cup of coffee and a cup of tea arrived about 30 minutes after the game begun. Watari put both cups on the table without the slightest noise. He bowed and left in silence.

Light was used to playing with the detective, so he had already memorized all his tactics. L was the type that couldn't be read. It was hard to detect his next move. In every game they played, L would always change his playing style. There wouldn't be the same tactics for L. At the beginning, L would create a strong fortress for defending himself while trying to read his opponent's strategy, and then he would attack quickly and violently. L also liked to play the free pawn, or do fast blockade. These are the only two stratagems Light had to watch closely, if he didn't want a quick defeat. And then, without knowing the reason, L's most favored pawn was the Knight; probably because its movement resembled the letter 'L'.

But today, something was different.

The ambush strategy. Light could read that L was trying to create an ambush. It wasn't that he could not overcome it, but the most suspicious part of all was the detective's steps were too easy to read. It felt as if L was making a trap at another place.

Light remained silent, taking the chance to wet his throat with tea, and then marched his Knight. As for L, he didn't take long to hesitate. Almost immediately he moved his pawn. This time it was the Black Bishop. The small pawn tinkled when L placed it on the white spot, as if it was sure with its own victory.

Light, feeling anxious because he didn't want to be defeated, lifted his White Rock high in the air, and then laid it back on the board.

L didn't seem to think at all. He walked his Knight heroically to the front, almost like it had lost its direction. Did he already know that Light was going to move his Rock? Had Light fallen into his trap? There was no significant change from L's tactics. He didn't take a few steps forward either. In contrast, it seemed that L was only marching in his own territory. Unable to believe this, Light glared at their chessboard, trying to predict the detective's next steps. It seemed that nothing could bring L to victory from this formation.

_Is it a trap? What has L been thinking about?_

"Don't think."

Surpised, Light glared at L. "What?"

"Don't think." L repeated. "Sometimes thinking too much would only distract your mind."

Light crossed his hands. "What kind of strategy is that? Playing chess needs skills and concentration at such a high level. It's not like crossing swords, which relies on instinct more than the mind."

L said nothing.

_Don't think, he said? Does that mean that even the detective's brain has dulled? _Light wished this game would end soon. In the next round, he almost moved his pawns recklessly. Sighing, Light laid back on the sofa. He glared at the pawns, trying to read L's next movements. But he assumed that for a few steps ahead L still wouldn't be able to reach victory.

The battle went on for a few more minutes. Light's enthusiasm for the game had dropped to the lowest level. On the contrary, L still went ahead with his fast, no-thinking game. He lifted his Black Knight and put it down on the best spot on the chessboard. For Light, it seemed that putting that pawn on that spot would cause trouble to L himself. Strange, but he had lost interest in their game so he didn't mind.

In the next round, Light moved his White Fortress. His eyes started to get watery because of the sleepiness. For a while, he forgot that L was in front of him. Light gulped his tea impatiently, until he almost choked.

"Last night I had a dream." L's voice rung out.

Light paused for a moment, looking at L, confused and suspicious. "What was it?"

L tilted his head and rolled his eyes. "I dreamed of a forest, Yagami-kun, a strange forest. There wasn't only green, but also red, purple, orange, light blue. The colors you wouldn't normally find in a forest. It was hard to count how many animals living in the forest, but I've met a few of them. A cat was lying on a tree and talking proper English, for example."

Light locked his eyes on L's pawns.

"After I bid farewell to the cat, I continued to walk deeper into the forest. Faintly there were animals' sound, the clear sky was covered by the greeneries and big trees-"

"And a candy house," Light breathed out, smirking in disgust.

L let out a chuckle. "No, Yagami-kun, even though I have always wished I could stay in a house like that, but my dream last night, was different... and I win."

Surprised, Light rolled his eyes back to the chess board.

"Checkmate."

As Light followed L's movement, his eyes widened.

L's formations was perfect, since the beginning the detective had done the moves only to fool Light.

Light had been surrounded. He lost.

_Fuck._

Well, from the first time Light indeed had no willingness to play. He didn't even put half of his soul into the game. Let this be L's victory, then. There was nothing to say.

"You don't feel angry?" L asked, his forehead wrinkled for a moment.

Light laughed. _What for? You__'re__ not a suitable match for __me__ anymore. _"No."

L's face dulled immediately. "A deal's a deal, Raito-kun. You must follow the consequences that had been settled."

"Whatever you wish," Light replied with a sigh. "What do you want me to do?"

L bit his thumb. "You haven't forget the consequences, have you? The loser must do whatever the winner says."

Light turned to look at L, annoyance visible on his face - which instantly turned into alarm.

"Well, I hope that's not something like imprisoning me under Kira's name or do something that breaks the ethical code-"

For a moment Light couldn't utter a word. His lips tightened. He didn't take his eyes off L.

L was looking back at him, his lips forming into a faint smile.

Something cold crept up Light's back to his neck.

"It has nothing to do with Kira, or breaking the ethical code." L's lips opened and then closed again. His black eyes weren't as wide as usual. "You can consider this as a request from a friend, Yagami-kun."

There was a knot inside Light's throat, one that choked him. "As long as it has nothing to do with my life." He started to feel uneasy. They hadn't decided on how long he should do what the detective would ask. What if L uses this chance to… t-to…

_Damn it__._

Light shouldn't have joined the game from the beginning.

Still smiling, L locked his eyes on Light's face. This time Light couldn't see his face reflected in those eyes. That look wasn't a normal look that could be seen frequently during the time they stayed together. That look also wasn't a menacing look which Light saw when L used Kira's name to destroy him. It wasn't even the serious look L gave last night when their lives were in danger. There was something in his look, something like arrogance, egoism, pride. It wasn't just a mere expressionless look.

This wasn't a game.

L could always do whatever he wanted to, and Light wouldn't be able to run away from him.

Light's eyes narrowed as his awareness increased. "What do you want?"

"Don't be afraid, Yagami-kun. This isn't a difficult thing to do."

"I'm not afraid," Light replied quickly, and that surprised him a little. "You know, actually my parents have forbid me to join your investigations. They didn't even allow me to come here and asked me to concentrate on my studies."

L shook his head. "Yagami-kun can continue his study and I'll take care of everything. But there's only one thing I want you to do."

Light's eyes tightened more.

"I want Yagami-kun to stay overnight here."

Light blinked. "Stay overnight _here._"

"But it's not to imprison you. I want Yagami-kun to stay here; he is free to go wherever he wants to, or to pay attention to other things like college or others. It isn't a difficult thing to do, I suppose."

Last night, Light swore that he would never put his feet on this building again. And now, he had to stay overnight again in this place?

"For how long?" Soon after he questioned that, Light regretted it. He knew the answer; he would have to stay as long as L desired to. "I have no problem with that, but my parents-"

"I'll talk to Yagami-san," L said. "That's not a problem for me."

"Fine, I'll be back soon after taking care of my college's administration," Light said calmly, in stark contrast to his anxiety-filled face. "Probably this evening."

L's smile slowly came into sight. "I'll see you later."

Light took his jacket and walked toward the door.

.

.

.

.

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**TBC**

**And the game begun.**


End file.
